Death is a Diamond in the Sky
by Lilies in the pond of Doom
Summary: A new year, a new DADA teacher, and a beautiful new student who seems too good to be true. Voldemort is plotting again, but all is not as it seems, and only Ron seems to notice it. How can he save his friends? RH, HG, DOC. COMPLETED, Now AU.
1. Kya

**Death Is a Diamond in the Sky**

**Summary:**

A new year, a new DADA teacher, and a new student. When everything goes wrong, who is Ron to turn to? R/H H/G D/OC

**Disclaimer:**

J. K. Rowling owns everything and everybody in this story, save two OCs.

**A/N:**

Hello, gentle readers. You know not yet what horrors you are about to be subjected to. Kindly review. And always remember:

Feel Free to Flame!

* * *

**1. - Kya**

"So," said Neville.

The passengers in the train compartment were still stubbornly silent. Ginny was playing with a remote control she had stolen from her father's chest of muggle treasures. Ron was examining the floor, as if he was determined to find a pattern in the dust. Hermione seemed riveted by the landscape outside, and was gazing intently out of the window. Harry pretended to be asleep.

Well, they're a cheerful group, Neville thought. He was a bit disappointed. Something interesting had always used to happen in their compartment, but now it was as if none of them felt like talking.

Neville could sort of understand why. A lot of things had happened last summer, and conversation had to be checked, so as not to bring back any painful associations. 'How was your summer?', the customary opening phrase of every start of term, was absolutely taboo today, and without it he had no sure ground to stand on. But he didn't think he could sit the entire train ride with a group of people, where each person was pretending the others didn't exist.

He sighed and got up. Ginny quickly followed suite. Apparently, her thoughts had been going along the same track.

"I'll go and see if I can find-"

"I need to talk to-" they both started.

Since none of the others reacted to their imminent departure, neither Neville nor Ginny bothered to finish their sentences. They simply left.

Ginny hurried off to look up her other friends. Neville lingered a bit outside of the compartment. He was not eavesdropping. He was only standing there!

Hermione was the first to speak. She broached the subject of Malfoy and his many failings, and that got them all talking. They seemed to be at ease when Neville and Ginny were not around. The two of them were outside of the group.

Well, how was he supposed to know that Malfoy was the topic to turn to at awkward moments?

Just then, the man himself came strutting down the corridor, flanked by his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, and looking quite as stuck-up and evil as ever. His father had already escaped from Azkaban, so Malfoy had reason to be happy. For a moment, Neville wondered what he was doing there. Then he realized that he hadn't paid his annual visit to the trio's compartment yet. He was bound to have a few extra scathing comments to bestow on them this year.

Neville clenched his teeth. He was not about to let a snivelling little rodent ruin the day for everybody. Besides, he had always been itching to get in a few good hexes at him, ever since his first year, but he had never had the opportunity.

"_Engorgio!" _he whispered.

At first, Malfoy didn't seem to notice anything. Then his eyes widened in horror when he realized his nose was beginning to grow bigger.

Neville didn't stay to see the effects of what he had done. He slipped into the nearest compartment before Malfoy and his cronies could see him. Unfortunately, Luna Lovegood occupied it. Neville always felt uncomfortable around her.

She didn't appear at all surprised to see him, though. She smiled at him.

"Hello," she said.

"Oh. Hi," said Neville. He wondered if he wouldn't prefer Malfoy to Luna, but the high-pitched squeals coming from the corridor outside told him it would be best not to show his face for a while. "Um, is it okay if I stay here for a bit?"

"I was hoping someone would join me," said Luna. "It's so tedious to play by oneself."

"Er, what…?" said Neville, who was beginning to feel a bit edgy.

Luna's smile widened. She held up a deck of Exploding Snap cards.

They played for the rest of the journey. They were finally able to relax around one another in comfortable silence, and Neville was glad to be free from the tension which was rampant everywhere else.

* * *

Soon after Neville and Ginny had gone out, the three people left in the compartment became more animate. Hermione commented on that Malfoy had not made his annual visit yet, and they were all grateful for his absence. Perhaps somewhat naively, she expressed a hope that he wouldn't come at all. 

A little bit of badmouthing did them all good. Harry was able to shake himself awake, to join in the slander. Ron snapped out of his daze.

Actually, it was Harry who brought up the subject they had hitherto been avoiding.

"How was your summer?" he asked.

"Er," said Hermione. She and Ron exchanged a nervous look, as had become their habit of late. This little tendency had always annoyed Harry, and he had to bite his tongue to keep back a sharp remark.

"Mine was fine," Hermione stammered. "I mean – it wasn't _great _of course... but it wasn't… terrible…?" Then she went back to looking out of the window.

"Mine was pretty dull," said Ron. "Wish you could have been with us at Gri – but then again, uh, I don't know… was it okay at the Dursleys'?" he finished, feebly.

"I'm not made of glass you know," Harry said, mentally reminding himself that _it was not their fault and he did not want another last year! _"You don't have to look at me like I'm going to break any minute. We talked last term about what happened, and I don't need to be reminded about it every time you talk to me, or look at me. Can we just put it behind us?"

"But don't you think you need to talk about it at all?" said Hermione, gingerly.

"No, not really," said Harry. "But thanks all the same."

Hermione gave him a long look, but finally she nodded.

"I'm not trying to repress anything," said Harry. "But we're not going to be able to act normal around each other if you're afraid of mentioning where you spent the summer."

"You're right," said Ron.

Hermione looked like she was about to protest, but then she seemed to reconsider, and added her assent to Ron's.

They talked freely after that.

* * *

Kya cast a glance around the great hall, which was full to the brim with students. Her eyes widened. The ceiling mirrored the sky outside, and candles floated in the air above the tables. She had never seen anything like it. 

"Morris, Kya," said professor McGonagall. Still filled with awe, Kya walked over to the three-legged stool with the sorting hat.

"Who is that new girl?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"Kya Morris," said Ron. "She can't be a first-year."

"I heard she's been tutored at home," said Seamus, leaning past Lavender in order to converse with the trio.

Strange, Harry thought.

They were all watching the girl, waiting to find out which house she was going to end up in. The great hall had never been so quiet. You could have heard a pin drop to the floor.

The sorting hat seemed to take a long time to decide which house to place her in, and while it was at it, it wriggled more than it usually did. Finally, it cried out,

"Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindors cheered and began to applaud wildly. Apparently a bit shaken, Kya walked over to their table and sat down next to Ginny and opposite of Harry. She gave them all a nervous smile. The students sitting in her vicinity no longer paid any attention to the rest of the first-years getting sorted. People at other tables craned their necks to get a good look at her.

Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione and all the others introduced themselves to the newcomer. She grinned, making them feel more at ease. Neville ventured to ask her what year she would be in.

"I'll be starting my sixth year," she said. "I've never been to a real school before. I've had a tutor until now."

"What's it like?" Ginny asked.

"It's dull. You never get out of the house and meet people."

"You'll like Hogwarts then," said Hermione.

"I'm sure I will," said Kya, smiling sweetly.

* * *

When the great clock in the astronomy tower struck midnight, most of the students had already fallen asleep, Hermione, Parvati and Lavender included. 

Kya was sitting on the windowsill, watching the sky outside. The moonlight reflected off her pearly white hair and her deep purple eyes.

She sighed, happy to be at Hogwarts at last. She felt sure she had already made a few good friends, like her dorm-mate Hermione, and the famous Harry Potter. A world of possibilities was open to her – this was going to be a good term. She could feel it.

* * *

**If you hate this story or think it is decent, or you just want to say hi, please review. There's not much point in uploading something on the Internet if you don't get feedback, is there? **


	2. Lessons

**Disclaimer:** J. K. Rowling owns everything, except for two OCs.

* * *

**FFF**

**2. – Lessons**

Many people turned around and stared at Kya as she walked through the corridors together with her friends, on her way to her first lesson. The reason for this was that she had insisted on not wearing her school uniform. Her regular clothes weren't markedly different from the uniform in colour and shape though, so Hermione hadn't been able to understand why she would do such a thing on her first day. Kya had patiently explained that she was making a statement.

What had surprised everyone, was that most teachers had ignored it. They seemed to be willing to make exceptions for the unusual newcomer.

Their first lesson was charms. Professor Flitwick beamed at Kya when she entered the classroom and sat down.

"Good day to you all," he said to the class, after they had all been seated. "Good day and welcome to another year of charms. We have some very interesting things to study this year. I hope you haven't forgotten what we learnt last term." He knew they all had.

"But we are going to start with something fun, as a warm-up!" he continued. "This is a new spell, and it's a bit tricky, so watch out! I want you to repeat after me; _Novo Colori!"_

"Novo Colori!" the class repeated dutifully.

"This is a spell to make a part of you change colour."

The class snickered.

"For example," said professor Flitwick, "_Novo Colori!" _

He twirled his wand and pointed it at his beard. Instantly it changed from its usual white, into a sickly green colour. The class applauded.

"Now we're going to practice the wrist movement for a few minutes before we try the spell. Remember, one wrong flick can do unpleasant things to your anatomy." He looked pointedly at Neville.

The professor called the class to order again after half an hour.

"Right, now that you've got the movement fairly well, we are going to practice the spell on each other. All divide into pairs…

"Good… now, this charm is trickier than it might appear at first, because you have to concentrate hard on the colour you want. We'll practice with colouring each other's hair, because it's not so risky. Try to picture the colour, say the incantation and _then _twirl your wand. And don't point it at each other's eyes!"

They all had a lot of fun, and there were only a few misfortunes. Harry accidentally turned Ron's ears purple, but he could have done a lot worse. Neville had conjured up huge, green blotches all over Dean's and Seamus' faces, and Flitwick was having trouble removing them. Parvati and Lavender looked like they had used the spell for years. Hermione and Kya made the perfect team, and at the end of the lesson they had succeeded in turning each other's hair into the most obscure colour tones imaginable. When they exited the class, Hermione's hair was titian red and Kya's was azure.

* * *

Before lunch, they had an hour of potions. Harry was dreading it more than usual this year, for obvious reasons. As they waited outside the classroom, the Slytherins arrived. 

Malfoy immediately strolled over to Harry, Ron and Hermione, but his insult got stuck on its way to his mouth when he spotted Kya.

He hesitated for a moment too long. Snape was making his way down the corridor, and they all had to line up outside the door. As usual, Snape let the line of Slytherins in first.

The lesson started out normally. Snape bullied Neville, made fun of Harry and ignored the other Gryffindors.

However, fifteen minutes before class was over, Kya had had enough of it.

Ron had chopped up his slugs a bit too roughly, and so the Muddling potion didn't simmer properly. It wasn't a bad mistake and the potion would probably work anyway, but Snape was a bit more annoyed than usual that day. He told Ron off about it in front of the entire class, eloquently ending the lecture with,

"Even Longbottom could do it!"

This was the last straw for Kya, who stood up abruptly.

"Shut up!" she said.

The whole class gasped.

"What?" said Snape.

"I said, shut up. I can't believe your attitude! You've been bullying us all class, ignoring every single mistake _they _made." she nodded to the Slytherins. "And Ron's mistake wasn't even serious. I know, because I've made Muddling potions for years. It'll hardly make the potion any less potent. So why are you going on about it?"

"Kya, sit down!" Hermione hissed, but Kya wasn't listening.

Snape seemed to recover his poise.

"If you had made this potion before, Morris," he sneered, "you should know that it is not the potion itself, but the powder left in the bottom of the cauldron after the liquid has evaporated, that will be used, as I clearly said in the beginning of class. How powdery do you think it will be, with big chunks of slug in it?"

"Well, the chunks you're talking about aren't even a quarter of a square inch big, and if they're such a problem he could easily pluck them out of the cauldron after the potion has evaporated."

"That is not the point, Morris," said Snape, coldly. "And if I say that Weasley's potion is defective, then it is defective."

Ron's face was beetroot red by then, and he looked about ready to drown himself in his "defective" potion.

"Please, Kya," said Hermione, desperately.

"It was an honest mistake," Kya said. "With your supervision, anyone could have done a lot worse! You know, it's thanks to you every kid in this school seems to hate potions!"

The Gryffindors left the classroom, all looking despondent. Ron and Kya had each been given detention, and what few points the class had gained during charms were gone. Even so, nobody gave Kya a hard time about it. They were rather impressed by her daring actually, although a little bit frightened too.

* * *


	3. Defence Against the Dark Arts

**A/N: **Thanks for the review, **Depthcharge** and **mrs muffin man**! **Mrs muffin man**, we understand what you mean. Kya will get worse before she gets better, but we're not stupid (although it may seem hard to believe ). She has fatal flaws. Please don't stop reading. We love Neville too by the way.

**Disclaimer: **J. K Rowling owns everything but Kya, and the other OC who will finally appear in this chapter.

* * *

**FFF**

**3. – Defence Against the Dark Arts**

The group found it hard to think of something to talk about over lunch. Harry was sitting next to Ginny, relating to her the events of the morning. After that topic had been exhausted, Hermione settled for bullying Ron about timetable-related things. As Kya seemed to be focusing on her food, Harry and Ginny began to talk about Quidditch.

"I hear the tryouts are next week," said Ginny. "I'm going to try out for Chaser, since Angelina has left."

"Who's the new captain?" Harry asked.

"Katie Bell," said Ginny. "She's in her last year, and since Alicia has also left, there'll be an opening for a second Chaser as well."

"Then I can try out too," said Kya.

Harry and Ginny both started. They hadn't known she was listening.

"Do you play Quidditch?" asked Harry.

"Sure," Kya replied. "I've had a broomstick since I was four, and I can play all the positions."

"What, all of them?" said Ron, surprised.

"Yes, but the Chaser's my favourite."

Ron frowned. He looked as if he didn't believe her. Harry regarded her thoughtfully.

"Who taught you?" he wondered.

"Oh, my tutor is a retired Quidditch player," said Kya. "I used to play with kids from my neighbourhood as well."

"What is your tutor like, anyway? What's his name?" said Hermione, joining in the conversation.

"Vladimir Clavisto," said Kya, with a perfectly straight face. "He is wonderful, really."

"Er… Clavisto, the famous vampire?" said Hermione, astonished. The others looked confused, not having heard of the supposedly famous vampire before.

"Oh, no," said Kya, and she laughed. "This is his grandson actually, Vladimir Clavisto II. It's not a hereditary thing… anyway, he's taught me some very interesting stuff."

Still looking dubious, Ron glanced at Hermione's watch.

"Class is starting in five minutes," he told them. He stood up, checked his timetable and announced, "we have Defence Against the Dark Arts. I wonder what kind of a teacher we'll have this year."

"Yeah," said Ginny. "And I wonder why she wasn't at the start of term feast."

* * *

Rhona Jacobson was fast asleep at her desk. On this desk lay a jumbled heap of papers, a small flask and a battered looking Quidditch trophy with her name on it. She woke with a start when Hermione knocked on the door for the third time. The lesson was supposed to have started fifteen minutes earlier. 

Rhona jumped up, muttered something incoherent, and ran to the door. She fumbled with the lock for a moment, before wrenching the door open and yelling,

"Good afternoon, Gryffindors!"

The Gryffindors stared at her, befuddled.

"Get in, get in, so that we can get on with it," said professor Jacobson.

When they were seated, they all began scrutinizing the new Defence teacher. She was short and plump, with scraggly blondish hair sticking out from underneath her pointed hat. Her nose was red and her eyes were swollen and puffy, as if she had a cold. Indeed, she seemed to snivel a bit, every now and then.

"Well, class," she said. "I'm sorry about that. As you see, I am your new Defence teacher this year. I would have been at the feast, but unfortunately, other matters came up."

She pointed at the name she had written on the black board; _Professor Jacobson. _The class had of course already been informed of her name at the feast. Now they were apprehensive about her, for justifiable reasons. They were anxious to know exactly how sane she was. Though she wasn't showing a lot of promise, the class had given up being picky about their teachers.

"Since I live in Hogsmeade, I won't be in the school after classes. If you want to contact me outside of class, I will be attending the weekly staff meetings on Tuesdays, between three and five o'clock. Now, lets just check if everyone's here…"

She began to call out the names of the students. When she got to Harry she stopped and peered up at him from under her fringe, and gave him a knowing look.

Finally the lesson began. Professor Jacobson folded her arms and told them they were to learn about hexes, counter curses and protective spells this year.

As they set to work, practicing the foot-in-mouth spell, which relocated the opponent's limbs, professor Jacobson sat down at her desk and poured herself a generous drink from her flask. She subsequently fell into a light dose, steam rising from her nostrils. Ten minutes before the lesson was over, Lavender tapped her shoulder, wanting to know if there was a counter curse available.

* * *

"Well, that was interesting," said Hermione, after the lesson was over. 

"It could have been worse," said Harry.

"Wish she wouldn't drink in class though." Hermione mused.

Dean Thomas walked past the group, wincing with every step.

"What do you think of Hogwarts now, then?" Ron asked Kya, but she wasn't listening. She was watching Dean, looking concerned.

"Are you alright?" she wondered.

"My legs hurt a bit," Dean confessed. "It must be an after-effect of the curse. I think I'll go see Madam Pomfrey…"

"I know a good healing charm," said Kya. Before anyone had had time to react, she had pulled out her wand, and yelled, "_Dolor Discedo!" _

Bright pink and aqua sparks shot out of her wand. They spun around Dean's legs in an intricate pattern, before vanishing with a poof, leaving a faint odour of kerosene in the corridor.

Looking a bit dazed, Dean shifted his weight from one leg to the other and rotated his ankles, before declaring in surprise that he felt much better. Kya smiled brightly, and offered to help anyone who might be suffering from the same ailment. Soon, Gryffindor students were lining up to get their legs and arms properly fixed. Kya appeared to be embarrassed, but happy.

* * *


	4. Quidditch Tryouts

**Disclaimer:** J. K Rowling owns it all, except two characters.

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! **Akalei** – we're afraid this chapter is going to be sueish. Thanks for reviewing, we'll make sure to read your story! Glad Neville is getting appreciated.

* * *

**FFF**

**4. – Quidditch tryouts**

In the late afternoon of Tuesday the 8th, several young, eager Gryffindors vied for the available positions on the Quidditch team. Ginny was the third to try, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the stands, cheering as she passed the Quaffle back and forth with Katie Bell. She easily bested the two previous candidates, to the surprise of no one. Not even of Malfoy, who had come to watch and to distract the contestants; or so they all assumed.

But there was something, or rather, _someone_ else that had caught his interest. As the evening approached, it was Kya's turn to fly.

She had brought her own broomstick, an ancient Silver Arrow in top condition, and seated herself on it. Madam Hooch had a hard time containing her enthusiasm for the broom.

Slowly Kya rose from the ground, the wind blowing through her long, glistening mass of white locks. In the autumn twilight, Harry thought she looked unreal, like a spectre with her white hair, pale skin and deep purple eyes, which were at that moment filled with a sublime joy. He knew the feeling well. It was one he had experienced many times on his Nimbus 2000, and lately, his Firebolt.

She soared around the Quidditch pitch, not quickly, but with a perfect precision.

"She flies well," remarked Katie, who was standing close to the stands. "But she's also got to be able to fly fast and duck if a Bludger comes."

They started with the same routine Katie had used for the other tryouts, namely passing the Quaffle to each other, back and forth, and scoring. After a while, Katie put herself in the keeper's position and instructed Kya to try to put the ball through the hoop. Kya smiled a bit uncertainly, and made ready to comply.

People were watching with interest. Everyone but one. Ron was looking at Malfoy in amazement. Malfoy hadn't said anything snide or rude at all since Kya had walked onto the pitch. In fact, he was watching her raptly, and he seemed a bit different from his usual snotty self. A half smile was playing on his lips. Then something incredible happened; Kya looked over at Malfoy and _waved. _

Malfoy looked ecstatic. Ron shook his head. Was the whole place going mental?

Nobody else seemed to think so however, and after a moment he concluded that she must have been waving at Harry, who was also smiling somewhat idiotically. It was the only possible explanation. After all, who would want to wave at an evil little snobby, thin-faced twit like Malfoy?

* * *

By the end of the tryouts, no-one was left in doubt as to who had been made Chaser. Kya and Ginny had flown very well, and everyone supported Katie's decision to put them on the team. 

Kya had gone off to change into her normal robes, but Ginny stopped for a chat with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Ron clapped his sister on the back.

"We'll win this year," he said, enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that was amazing," said Harry.

Ginny grinned, blushing self-consciously. Her hair was mussed from flying, and her eyes were sparkling with excitement. She laughed. Harry noted that she seemed to be far happier than she had been for a long time. He felt strangely warmed by this.

"You really flew very well," said Hermione. Ginny's grin widened. Getting recognition from Hermione for having flown well was a rare occurrence.

"Hey, Weasley," Malfoy yelled from the stands. He seemed to have recovered from his trancelike state. "Potter been pulling some strings?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny shouted back, angrily.

"Bit slow on the uptake, aren't you?" shouted Malfoy. He was too far away and it was too dark for them to be able to see his face very clearly, but they could hear the sneer in his voice.

"It's obvious," he continued. "Potter has been using his influence with the captain to get his girlfriends on the team."

Ginny bristled.

"What do you mean, 'using his influence'?" she demanded to know.

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" he yelled, sounding as if he was thoroughly enjoying himself. "I knew you were empty-headed, running after Potter all the time, but I thought even you could have figured that out. Of course, I don't suppose _he _left much of substance in that red head of yours when they exorcised him…"

Ginny and Harry just stared at him, not really understanding what was so funny. Harry recalled the happenings of four years previously. Ginny had nearly died, as a result of a small diary, placed in her possession by Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's father. He had tried not to think of it, and had succeeded for almost a year.

And there was Malfoy, up at the stands, sniggering as though he'd made a brilliant joke. The sound was cut off abruptly, as Hermione's fist connected with his nose. Ron was directly behind her, pointing his wand right between Malfoy's eyes. Harry couldn't hear what he was saying, but his threatening stance was unmistakable.

Harry turned to Ginny.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She scratched the nape of her neck, looking a bit bewildered. Then she giggled.

"I'd have paid to see Malfoy's expression when Hermione hit him," she said. She giggled some more when she saw how surprised Harry was at her quick change of mood. Nevertheless, her laughter was infectious, and Harry found himself grinning in response to it.

He was soon relating to her in explicit detail, the story of Malfoy's first encounter with Hermione's violent streak. Ginny thought the tale was hilarious, and they both sniggered in a manner eerily similar to Malfoy's earlier expression of mirth.

They took no notice of the shouting match going on in the stands. If they had, they would no doubt have been delighted to hear that Malfoy was losing it miserably, his witticisms failing him at this crucial moment. Ron and Hermione knew he would tattle to professor Snape, but right then they didn't care. In times to come, they would look back at this evening with a strong sense of satisfaction, and no regret. Not only had they beaten Malfoy; they had done it together.

* * *


	5. Gotta Dance

**Disclaimer: **J. K. Rowling owns everything we use. Except for two OCs.

* * *

**FFF**

**5. – Gotta Dance**

"Another Yule ball?" said Neville. He looked shocked.

"No, it's not for Christmas," said Colin Creevey. He handed Neville the pamphlet that Parvati had forced on him. Neville read it and blanched.

"When's it for, Colin?" Harry asked.

"Halloween."

"They won't have us wear costumes, will they?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"'Fraid so," said Colin. "You don't have to go though."

"Yes you do!" said Parvati suddenly, and she poked Ron sharply in the shoulder with her quill. He winced. "We want as many people as possible. We were counting on the Gryffindors."

"The hall will look splendid," Lavender piped up. "We've had it all worked out with professor McGonagall, but we need people. Anyone who wants to is welcome to join the committee."

She smiled sweetly at the boys. None of them dared move. Harry thought he could detect a strangely predatory gleam in her eyes, which made him distinctly uncomfortable.

"Um," he said.

"Great!" Parvati exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "We knew we could count on you and Ron!"

Ron looked like he didn't know what train had hit him. Dean Thomas, who had just entered the common room, hurriedly backed away when he heard their topic of conversation. Unfortunately, he knocked over a chair in the process.

"Padma's recruiting people in Ravenclaw," Parvati continued. "Dean, will you help talk to some Hufflepuffs?"

Dean stopped in his tracks and sighed.

"_Only couples?" _Colin read aloud.

"Oh, yes," said Lavender. "For the dancing. That really shouldn't be a problem." She smiled at Seamus, who was sitting across the room looking queasy.

"A committee?" said Harry, hesitantly, trying to figure out what exactly he'd been dragged into.

"Yes, to take care of the decorations and food, and music, of course. You'll help ensure this will happen." she declared this as though it was a great honour. Harry certainly hoped they were good at organizing this kind of thing, because he was pretty sure none of the others were going to be very enthusiastic.

* * *

"A committee?" said Ron faintly, an hour later, when they were having breakfast. It was a fine, crisp Saturday morning in October. Their first Quidditch match against Ravenclaw was coming up, and Ron, Harry and Ginny had been practicing hard during the past few weeks. They had been looking forward to some relaxation during the weekend. However, it appeared that that was not to be. 

"A committee?" repeated Ron. "I don't want to be in a committee."

"Cheer up, Ron," said Ginny. "We're all in the committee. Nobody escaped it. There's even a bunch of Slytherins in it. Kya's been doing some recruiting over there."

"Oh, that cheered me up," Ron grumbled.

Harry looked over his shoulder at Kya, who was mingling with some Slytherins entering the great hall. She seemed to be particularly occupied with one Draco Malfoy. Harry felt sorry that she had been given that task. Although, as he was watching he thought it seemed as if she wasn't that unhappy about it…

"Poor Kya," said Ginny, shaking her head sadly. "But no-one volunteered."

"I thought Malfoy seemed taken with her at the tryouts last month," said Ron, out of the blue.

"Don't be stupid," said Hermione, vaguely. They were all watching Kya and Malfoy.

* * *

It was past midnight, and there were only a few people left in the common room. Colin and Dennis Creevey were playing exploding snap with Neville in one corner. In another, Harry, Ron and Hermione were exchanging conspiracy theories regarding everything from the Ministry of Magic, to the upcoming ball. After the three of them had once again agreed to disagree on the subject of the ethics of professor Snape (or lack of them), talk turned to lighter matters. 

"Hermione," said Ron, abruptly.

"Mm?"

"Er," he said, and his previously businesslike tone of voice faltered. He refused to look at her.

"… Yes?" said Hermione, with considerably more interest.

Ron cleared his throat, drew in a deep breath and said,

"Do you want to go?"

"What?"

"To the – the Halloween thing?"

"Oh," said Hermione. "Yeah – okay."

"Good." said Ron. He looked relieved.

Hermione didn't giggle like many of her fellow students, but as she got up and left for her dormitory, she looked as if she had seen light at the end of the tunnel.

As did Ron, after she had left. He even grinned a bit goofily at Harry, who simply remarked,

"At least she knows you didn't pick her as a last resort this time."

* * *


	6. Sunday, Bloody Sunday

**Disclaimer: **Aside from two OCs, J. K. Rowling owns it all.

**A/N: Akalei** – a half-veela? Why, whatever gave you the idea? ;o)

To everybody else who might chance to come across this little story, you are free to review. We grant you our permission.

* * *

**FFF**

**6.– Sunday, Bloody Sunday**

They held the first committee meeting the next day.

Half the students in sixth and seventh year from every house seemed to have joined up, despite Hermione's stubborn insistence that in these cases, "less is more!" They all gathered in the great hall after lunch.

Parvati called them to order. She had a list of things to discuss.

"Okay," she opened. "Er, first of all, does anyone know how we can get a band to play? Hopefully for minimum wages…"

For a minute, no-one uttered a peep. After a while, Hanna Abbot raised her hand.

"My sister plays the violin," she said, hesitantly. Parvati nodded approvingly.

"Does anyone know someone who plays drums, or anything?"

"I can play the cymbals," Collin offered.

"Anyone can play the cymbals," a Ravenclaw boy muttered.

"Any contribution is welcome," said Parvati, impatiently.

"Well," said Ginny, "there's that man who plays the xylophone outside of the Three Broomsticks. I suppose we could ask him…"

"My second cousin can sing acapella," Ernie McMillan suggested.

"Okay, this is going to be a problem," said Lavender. "We need a _band. _A synchronized one."

"How can we find money to pay a band?" Hermione asked.

"Do we really need one?" said Dennis Creevey. "I mean, couldn't we just play some records or something?"

"No electricity, Dennis," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but a gramophone… you know, with the little handle thingy?"

"Do you have one of those then? Because I don't think there are any lying around."

The debate continued heatedly for twenty minutes, without anyone coming to a conclusion. Harry and Ron weren't the only ones staring longingly out of the window. Finally, Parvati decided they would ask professor McGonagall if she had any suggestions, and talk about it some more during the next meeting.

* * *

The rest of the discussion, concerning the décor and the menu, ended the same way. After the meeting was over, Harry and Ron declared their intention to go and stretch their legs a bit. Hermione and Kya said they'd come too. 

They walked along the shore of the lake, all of them trying not to mention the upcoming ball. They felt they had had quite enough of that.

However, since they were steering away from that subject, talk inevitably turned to Quidditch. Harry, Ron and Kya got into a heated debate about tactics, and for once, Hermione had nothing to say, which made her feel left out.

She let them go on for a while longer, until there was a pause in the conversation. She grabbed at the opportunity.

"Have you decided what to wear yet?" she asked, innocently.

Harry gave her a questioning look.

"Er… Quidditch robes, I guess?"

"Not for the match," she said impatiently. "I meant for the ball."

Ron groaned.

"Hermione," he said, "I'd almost forgotten about that!"

"Well, I had an idea anyway," she continued, unperturbed. "You remember the room of requirement? Do you think we could 'require' it to have a store of costumes?"

"That's brilliant," said Harry. "We could require it to have all the other things we need for the ball."

"That's right," said Hermione. "Not a band though," she added, sighing. "I don't think that would work…"

"Speaking of the ball," said Kya, brightly. Ron groaned again.

"Not you too!"

Kya ignored him.

"Do you have anyone to go with yet?"

"Not me," said Harry. "But Ron's going with Hermione."

"That's great," said Kya. "I'm going with Draco."

They stopped.

"What, you mean Malfoy?" said Ron.

"Yes," said Kya, unfazed.

"But he's a…" Hermione searched for a word. "He's a creep! His father tried to kill Ginny, and Harry, and… he tried to kill all of us, Kya!"

"Malfoy's just like him," said Harry. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's a Death Eater already…"

"I don't think you really know him very well." Kya said. She sounded somewhat annoyed.

"He's a ferret!" Ron protested.

"Why are you so hostile?" she asked, frowning.

"Well, we're not the best of friends," said Hermione.

"Because he is evil," said Ron, exasperated. They started walking again.

"Look," said Harry, trying to be reasonable. "He's tried to get us expelled more times than I can count…"

"That _is _immature, but it doesn't make him evil," said Kya.

"Oh, there's more," said Hermione, getting her back up as well. "He keeps calling me a Mudblood. He's threatened to kill us."

"But he's never carried it out," said Kya, who seemed to be barely keeping her temper in check.

"He wants Harry dead," Hermione insisted. "_He said so._ Can't you understand that?"

"I think it's you who don't understand," said Kya. Her face softened. "I know you don't get along. You've never tried to see it from each other's point of view. You're condemning him out of hand. You say his father's really horrible, and you're probably right. Don't you think Draco's had problems at home, then? And," she said, before Ron could try to cut her off. "Who could he have had to talk to? Look at the people he hangs out with. You never gave him a chance."

"One of the first things he said to me," said Harry, "was that Muggleborns shouldn't be allowed at Hogwarts. He never gave us a chance to give him a chance."

"Exactly," said Ron. "And you don't know about any of the stuff he's done. You don't know _him_. We do."

"Well, I'm grateful you're looking out for me, I really am," said Kya. "But he was really nice when he asked me. Actually he's always been nice to me, and I always judge by my own impression; not someone else's. If you're right, and I am making a mistake, I stand corrected, but in that case it's my mistake to make."

And that settled the matter.

* * *


	7. All About the Ball

**Disclaimer: **J. K. owns all characters except two OCs.

**A/N: **Thanks for staying with us, **Akalei**. This chapter contains some cheese.

* * *

**FFF**

**7.** - All About the Ball

As Halloween approached, nobody had had any time to worry about Voldemort. That was why everyone was amazed at the article which appeared in the Daily Prophet, on the morning of October the 14th. However, nobody was more surprised than Kya.

"Let me see that," she said, and she snatched the paper out of Neville's hands. As she quickly skimmed through the article, her eyes widened in disbelief. "But how… why would they attack that village? How horrible!" she exclaimed.

"I know," said Hermione. "I wonder how the ministry knew about the attack."

The attack on a small wizarding community outside of Yorkshire had been thwarted by a law enforcement squad from the ministry.

"Yes. It's not like they were obvious targets or anything," said Kya.

"My dad sent them an anonymous tip someone had given him," said Luna, unexpectedly. She had wandered over to the Gryffindor table without anyone noticing, and was now looking at the paper over Kya's shoulder.

Kya slowly turned her head to regard the newcomer.

"Really?" she said, obviously impressed. "Your dad?"

Luna shrugged and nodded.

"You're Luna Lovegood, aren't you?" said Kya and she smiled, extending her hand. Luna gave her an odd look, and hesitated for a while before accepting it.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Kya Morris," said Kya. "You're dad works at The Quibbler, doesn't he?"

"He's the editor," said Luna.

"I read that paper a lot," said Kya. "There's no other one like it."

Luna frowned at that slightly ambiguous remark. Kya checked her watch. It was time for another painful round of Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Well, Luna, nice to have met you," said Kya, while getting up and reaching for her bag.

"Yeah," said Luna.

Thankfully, professor Jacobson didn't drink as much in class, as she had done during the first few lessons. Instead of drowning herself in alcohol, she had apparently resolved to immerse herself in her work. The extreme cheerfulness she was radiating seemed rather forced. As a result of her new dedication, she was more focused on the students, and there had been far fewer injuries lately. However, the curses they had to try out on each other were very painful.

* * *

The days flew by in a frenzy of preparations. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Kya nearly panicked when they tried to take their costumes out of the room of requirement, only to find that the clothes disappeared once they were brought out of the room.

"Lucky we didn't rely on it for the decorations," said Hermione. "Apparently, Parvati and Lavender have already bought those."

That night, in the common room, Harry and Ginny were playing a game of exploding snap. Kya was off, spending quality time with Malfoy, presumably reading him her new poetry. Ron had given her a very dark look as she'd left the room.

"That one's not right in the head," he had said, nastily.

"Oh Ron," Hermione had sighed. "It's her own business, alright? I'm sure she'll find out about him soon enough."

"She'll be alright," Harry had said. "Malfoy seems to like her, anyway."

"Much as he's capable of liking anyone," Ron had muttered under his breath.

"He won't be able to hurt her or anything at the ball," Ginny had said, shrugging. "Too many people."

"She just seems so naïve though," Ron had argued. "What if he lures her out into the forest or something?"

"Oh, can it," Hermione had said in response. Then she had got up, stretched and declared her intentions to get into bed. Ron had looked considerably annoyed, but soon he had decided to follow the same course of action. Which had left Harry and Ginny, playing cards by the fire.

After a while, Harry fidgeted a little. Ginny noted that he looked uncomfortable.

"Are you alright?" she asked. He wasn't, obviously.

"Oh… oh, yeah, I'm fine. Excellent. Never better."

"Good," said Ginny, uncertainly.

Having exploded their last deck of cards, they both picked up textbooks, and started leafing through them. It was impossible for them to concentrate. The room was warm, it was late, and they were tired.

Ginny cleared her throat.

"I suppose I shouldn't have procrastinated so much," she observed. "Do you know what will happen if you don't dice the mandrake roots properly?"

"Um…Yeah, it'll turn acidic."

"Oh," said Ginny, and she frowned. "There's no mention of that in here."

"No, they expect you to follow the instructions to the letter."

"Ah."

They were quiet for a while longer. Then Ginny ventured to ask,

"What are you reading?"

"History of Magic," said Harry. He looked up at her. "There's this wizard… Gorlock," he said, glancing down at the page.

"The one who defeated the rampaging dragon in Westchester?" said Ginny, with interest.

"Yeah. Anyway. Turns out he needed help with the dragon, so he asked this witch he knew if she'd go with him."

"Yeah, I know that," said Ginny, vaguely.

"Did she say yes?"

Ginny gave him a strange look, but then her eyes widened in understanding.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure she did," she replied.

Harry grinned. Ginny beamed.

* * *


	8. Sewing

**Disclaimer: **J. K. Rowling owns everything and everybody in this story except for two OCs.

**A/N: **Hello new reviewers! **Koryan'shea**, **Maddie** and **farleydunlop'04**, thanks!

**farleydunlop'04** - none taken. **Akalei**, your reviews always make us very happy. The chapters will start to get a bit longer now, we think.

* * *

**FFF**

**8. Sewing.**

The great hall looked very different the evening before the Halloween ball. The walls and windows were festooned with long strands of cobwebs. Someone had wanted to animate them with real live spiders, but McGonagall had thought it would be unsanitary. Ron had agreed wholeheartedly.

The sky was dark and cloudless, but professor Flitwick had agreed to charm the ceiling to make it look like there was a raging thunderstorm outside, on the night of the ball. The regular candles had been replaced by ghostly silver chandeliers, hovering in mid air. Scull-shaped candles were placed on the tables, and in every corner of the room there were giant jack-o'-lanterns. Professor Flitwick had also prepared a few atmosphere-heightening details for the students to enjoy. There were the usual bats flying across the ceiling, but he had also added large rats scurrying under the tables. He hadn't told McGonagall about those.

The band was practising in the corner. Tommy pushed his fringe out of his eyes.

"So I was thinking," he explained to Ferguson, "I was thinking, we should try to jazz it up a little, because it's supposed to be dance music, you know?"

"Jazz is not very spooky though, is it?" said Ferguson, who liked their trademark rock style.

"Jazz is Halloweeny," Tommy insisted. "I always listen to jazz."

"Yeah, and you're scary enough, aren't you?" said "Dirty Socks" Joe. His matted grey hair fell in scraggly tangles over his face. He tested a few tunes on the piano. On the old, damaged instrument were written the words "ancient pain" in red paint. Someone had apparently not appreciated its music much.

"Leave it," said Lorenz Flange. "We only need one of that sort of instrument. Can someone help me tune my xylophone?"

* * *

"How did it come to this?" Hermione asked afterwards, as they headed down the corridor. Nobody answered. 

She, Harry, Ron, and Kya had been checking on how the preparations for the ball were coming along. They had felt obliged to help the venerable gents with dragging out all the old instruments they had been able to find.

"At least we managed to convince them not to sing," said Ron, who thought the band was kind of funny, in spite of it all.

"It's not like there was anyone else who was willing to play."

"It'll be alright, 'Mione," said Kya. "Where are we going now?"

"To visit Dobby," said Harry.

"Who's Dobby?"

"He's a friend who we haven't seen for ages," said Harry, shrugging. He did seem to have been neglecting some of his old friends lately. He hadn't seen Hagrid outside of Care of Magical Creatures, and had all but forgotten Hedwig. After all, he had been rather busy. Come to think of it, he had hardly had time to worry about Voldemort.

Which was a good thing, he told himself. His life was stressful enough as it was. He should be happy that his scar hadn't hurt at all, lately. Yet it made him wonder.

* * *

Dobby was ecstatic to see them. Kya looked at him, wide-eyed, as he ran up and greeted each one of them with less subservience than the house elves she was used to. 

After having shaken hands with all of them twice, Dobby said he had to work with the food for the ball, but promised to be with them once the gravy was simmering properly.

"Would you like food?" he asked them.

"Yes please," said Ron, before anyone could decline it.

As they were ushered to the small table in the corner of the kitchen, Kya broached the subject of Dobby's behaviour.

"The house elf seems very attached to you all," she said quietly to Hermione, as they watched Dobby run off.

"Oh, yes," said Hermione, and she related to Kya the story of how Dobby had gained his freedom in their second year, and of his subsequent quest for paid work.

"That's lovely," said Kya, beaming.

Hermione then began to chat with Kya about S. P. E. W., happy to have found someone willing to listen to her at last. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, but Harry didn't notice.

Dobby brought them their eggs and, despite their insistence that they were not that hungry, Yorkshire pudding. He then decided he could afford to spare some time.

"Dobby has not been seeing Harry Potter very much," he said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Harry began.

"Dobby is knowing that Harry Potter is being very busy, sir. Dobby has been working a lot also," said Dobby. "Dobby has been preparing for the ball."

"Oh, yes, the ball," said Hermione. "I wish we had decent costumes."

"Is you not having decent costumes, miss?" said Dobby.

"We went to Hogsmeade too late," said Kya. "We had been counting on the room of requirement."

"You can not take anything out of that room, miss," said Dobby, sensibly.

"We realized that," said Harry.

"You is not using the things in the room, sir," said Dobby. "You is bringing the right things in and using it with the things in there. Just do not take anything from the room back out, sir."

"What?" said Ron.

"Bring in the parts, take out the whole," said Kya, thoughtfully. "Of course!"

"What?" said Hermione. Harry was surprised. He had understood it perfectly.

"You have to bring in your own material." He explained. "We can find the right spells and things in the room, and turn it into costumes."

It dawned on them all.

"Didn't we find an old curtain?" said Hermione. "For Ron's costume?"

"Yeah, but that's mine," said Ron.

"It belongs to all of us," said Kya. "Besides, I'm sure we can find a spell to stretch it a bit."

"Don't you know any spells for that?" Ron asked Hermione.

"No, Ron, I don't sew for a hobby," she snapped.

"What?" said Ron, incredulously. "You used to make hats for the house elves all the time!"

It seemed as if all of the activity in the kitchen stopped.

"Was that you, miss?" said one of the house elves, slowly.

"Thanks for the food, Dobby," said Harry. They all got up and hastily departed.

* * *

"_Tela Tesserio," _Hermione muttered, pointing her wand at Ron's curtain. It stretched out and became larger. She took a pair of scissors from a table nearby, and began to cut the cloth into even pieces. 

The room was dimly lit by a few tall candelabras. Massive bookshelves lined the plaster walls. The four friends were sitting in a circle on the floor.

None of them talked much as they worked, apart from muttering the occasional spell. There were sounds of scissors cutting, Kya stirring her potion, and the wooden beams in the ceiling creaking for some unknown reason.

After a while, Kya's potion started hissing and bubbling, and she announced that it was ready.

Hermione held up her piece of the cloth. What had at first been an old, moth-eaten velvet curtain, was now an old, moth-eaten velvet mermaid suit.

"I want it scaly," she told Kya. "And shiny."

Kya nodded, and took the dress. She dipped it in the cauldron. After that, she withdrew a small bag from her stash of herbs. She put a pinch of the spices in the potion, and stirred. It fizzed and started to slowly turn purple.

After a while, she put on her dragon hide gloves, lifted the dress out of the potion, and laid it on a rack to dry. Hermione went over to inspect it, and found that it was no longer old, moth-eaten and velvet, but shiny and sleek.

She lifted her wand, twirled it and said, "_Novo Colori!" _

The mermaid suit had turned a pale shade of green.

* * *


	9. Everything Goes

**Disclaimer:** J. K Rowling owns everything and everybody in this story except for two OCs.

**A/N:** Hello. **Tee** and v**icky2nd** – the question isn't who, but what. A Mary Sue is a character type who isn't very popular in this fandom. She makes other characters act OOC among other things. **Sugarshock** and **Nic6590**, thanks! We'll reveal the truth about Kya in a few days.

* * *

**FFF**

**9. Anything Goes**

They entered the great hall.

"Welcome, welcome," said Professor Dumbledore. Harry realized that he had not seen the headmaster at the staff table for some time. Dumbledore looked distracted, tired, and strangely enough, almost irritable. He let none of this show in his little speech to the students before the dance opened.

The speech was mercifully short. He introduced the band, the "Crazy Crups Quartet," and said, "let the dance begin!" and that was it.

Everyone danced very badly, because of their cumbersome costumes. Ron and Hermione in particular had a difficult time. Ron, dressed as a ghoul with a chain, rattled along. Hermione couldn't get the steps right, because of the tight skirt of her mermaid costume. But they had fun anyway.

Harry and Ginny were doing better. Harry, having preferred to be more discreet, wore a tuxedo and a cape, looking very much the part of a vampire. Ginny wore a long, bright green dress, and in her hair she had fastened toy snakes, which she had animated with a spell.

Malfoy and Kya came in fashionably late. The band had just begun to play a new song, as they stepped onto the dance floor. Kya wore a long, deep purple, shimmering floor-length gown, with trailing, cobweb-like black sleeves. She had said she was going to dress up as a Black Widow, and whatever that was, Harry thought she had done a good job. Her hair was done up in ringlets that fell to her waist. Her dress went with her eyes, he mused absently.

He wondered how she could move so gracefully in that long dress. He found himself watching her movements, mesmerized. She, however, appeared to take no notice of him. He himself didn't know how he was moving. He seemed to be dancing. How odd.

When he saw Malfoy at her side, he was jerked out of his trance. He looked back at Ginny, only to see that she was also watching the two, with her mouth open. So that's alright then, he thought, and went back to looking at Kya and Malfoy.

Then he noticed something which really annoyed him. Malfoy was wearing almost the same kind of costume as himself.

Since they both were rather pale and thin, it was only natural for them to both dress up as vampires for this occasion, but that did not occur to Harry. He simply assumed that Malfoy had stolen his idea.

He looked back at Ginny, trying to calm down. Ginny also turned her gaze from Malfoy and Kya, and gave him a small smile.

"Where were we?" she said. Harry chuckled, half-heartedly.

After the entrance of Malfoy and Kya, Ginny seemed to have sunk into a gloom. She and Harry danced another couple of dances, but her heart wasn't in it. Harry saw that her gaze kept straying out into space. He thought he knew why, but he didn't want to dwell on it.

In the end they sat down and watched the others. Neville, somewhat to the surprise of his friends, was masquerading as the Red Death. He was dancing with a Ravenclaw pretending to be a hag. Luna Lovegood was wearing an impressive, lifelike Doxy costume, and she appeared to be using all of the legs when she danced. Seamus Finnigan simply wore a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, on which was written, _I'm Your Boggart. _Lavender, decked out in pink satin and incredibly frilly lace, was rather put out by his lack of imagination. Then Cho Chang danced by, together with someone wrapped up in bandages. She glanced at Harry, bit her lip and looked away. She seemed to be dressed up as a banshee, but she didn't look very skeletal.

A bolt of lighting lit up the hall. Bats flew across the ceiling. The band was actually not doing too badly, Harry thought. Especially since it was supposed to be scary music.

All in all, things had worked out almost perfectly. Now, if only the night could be over, so that they could get back to their _real_ lives. Harry had a feeling that there was something he ought to be worrying about, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was.

Then Kya smiled brilliantly, and all sense of vague evil left him for a time.

Ron and Hermione wandered, or, in Hermione's case, minced over to their table, perhaps seeking their company, or perhaps because that was where the drinks were. At any rate, it offered a welcome break from the uncomfortable silence that had ensued when Harry and Ginny had sat down.

"Hi," said Hermione. "How're you doing? Nice hair."

"You too," said Ginny, humourlessly.

"So, are you two alright?" there was no dampening Hermione's happy mood.

"Peachy," said Harry, glumly. There was something in Hermione's manner which made him depressed, although he couldn't say what.

"So isn't this great, or what!" she said, enthusiastically.

Ron looked at her in astonishment.

"Or what?" he repeated.

"Hey you guys, I'm going to walk over and talk to them," said Hermione, a blissful smile adorning her face. She bounced off in the direction of Kya and Malfoy.

"'Guys'?"said Harry, when she had gone. "She's never called us 'guys' before…"

"She's acting like Kya," said Ron. "She started like that when they came into the room. It's almost as if she was being brainwashed…"

Harry and Ginny bristled.

"Are you serious!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Brainwashed? You mean by Kya?" said Ginny.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Harry. "She's harmless."

"What?" Ron replied heatedly. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed how strangely she's acting."

"Acting strange? What are you talking about?" Harry was genuinely confused.

"You're the one that's been acting strange!" said Ginny. "You're jumping to conclusions and coming up with conspiracy theories! Why are you being so paranoid?"

"No, listen to me," said Ron. "Kya's perfect at everything she does. _Everyone _who sets eyes on her falls in love with her. Even Malfoy! Don't you think it's a bit odd?"

"So that's what this is all about, is it?" said Ginny. "You're in love with her, and you're jealous of Malfoy!"

Ron stared at her.

"I'm not in love with _her,_ I'm in love with-"

"Who?" said Harry and Ginny at the same time. Ron's ears turned red.

Ginny calmed down noticeably.

"I'm sure Hermione's just fine," she reassured him. "She's just caught up in all of it. She'll come around."

Ron sighed, defeated.

After he had sat there with them for a while without saying anything, he got up and walked away, looking forlorn. They didn't see him again for the rest of the evening.

Harry and Ginny didn't enjoy the ball very much after that. Not that they had enjoyed it at all to begin with – or had they? Harry couldn't remember anymore. He really was terribly confused. Ginny didn't seem to be very happy either, he noted, but he could think of nothing to say to her.

He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. He was beginning to develop a fierce headache. For a moment he thought it was his scar that was hurting, but it wasn't. It was just a plain old case of muggle migraine.

"You okay?" asked Ginny, with a note of concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess," said Harry.

It was good that Voldemort wasn't up to any dark activities. It was good. It was great. It was _so wrong…_

Matters were made worse by the fact that he could no longer ignore Cho's presence. She was sitting near his table, talking to her mummified date. Now that he had nothing else to preoccupy himself with, his gaze kept straying over to her.

Suddenly, Cho got out of her seat and walked towards them.

"Hello Harry, and… Ginny, right?"

"Yes," said Ginny. "Hello Cho."

Cho looked at Harry, seeming uncertain.

"Can we talk for a bit?" she asked him.

Harry glanced at Ginny, who was pouring herself another huge drink from the punchbowl.

"Sure," he said. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah, go ahead," said Ginny, distantly.

Harry and Cho walked off to one corner of the hall that was miraculously quiet.

Cho took a deep breath before she started.

"First of all, I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"What?" Harry was completely taken aback.

"I'm sorry. Our relationship last year was a disaster, and I know that it was at least partly my fault."

"Yeah, but why are we talking about this now?" Harry wondered. "I mean, why here?"

"Well, last year I was mad at you, and lately I haven't had much of an opportunity. Now's as good a time as any. So, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. How's Marietta?"

"Oh, she's okay now. The curse lifted last summer."

"Good."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"So what's up with you and Ginny?" Cho ventured to ask after a while. "She doesn't look very happy."

Harry flushed a little.

"We're a bit worried, that's all. Her brother's been acting weird."

"Oh."

Cho looked around, spotted her mummy and used him as an excuse. "See you then," she said, and she went back to her table. Harry thought that it was probably Michael Corner under all the bandages. He went back to his table, where Ginny was having her second drink.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"I don't know. She wanted to apologize for helping to screw it up last year."

"Well, that was nice of her," said Ginny.

" I suppose so," said Harry, wearily. When he thought about it, he wasn't sure it made much of a difference. He felt neither relieved nor really sad; just apathetic, like he had done all evening. He wanted to get out of there.

"Do you feel a bit odd?" He asked Ginny.

"Yeeeaah," said Ginny in the most slurry voice she could manage.

"That's not going to help any, you know," said Harry, when he noticed that she was pouring herself a third drink.

"Are you sure? Because I heard someone spiked it."

"No, Hermione put a spell on the bowl to prevent that. It's just fruit juice. Why are you trying to get drunk anyway?"

"Felt like it," said Ginny, looking a lot more sober. "Anyway, I'm tired. I think I want to go to bed."

"Yeah," said Harry. They got up and left the great hall.

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter wasn't remotely romantic. **


	10. Bright Eyes

**Disclaimer:** J. K. Rowling owns everything and everybody in this fic except for our OCs. We're not making any money from this either.

**A/N:** Was the last chapter a bit of an anti-climax? Actually, it wasn't meant to be a climax at all. Just so you know. BTW, we only discover the tons of mistakes we've made right after we've already posted the chapters. It's so annoying...

* * *

**FFF**

**10 – Bright Eyes**

Kya and Draco Malfoy were watching the stars. The sky was clear, unlike the ceiling inside. They were sitting next to each other by the lake, where the moon was reflected in the water. The trees moved in the light wind.

Even in the dark, Malfoy could see the deep purple of Kya's eyes. Noticing that he was watching her instead of the sky, she turned her head and caught his gaze with her own. She smiled.

"It's a nice evening," she said.

"Yes," he said, "yes, it's lovely."

He couldn't seem to look away from those eyes.

They were both silent, deep in thought. Kya broke the stillness after a while.

"Draco," she said, her eyes never leaving his.

Malfoy jerked. He was not used to people calling him by his first name after such a short acquaintance.

"I have been thinking a bit," said Kya. "About why you act like you do."

"Oh?" said Malfoy, and then he shuddered. He had tried to sound sardonic, but it had come out in a hopeful tone of voice. It was almost as if she knew what went on in his head. Had he been baring his soul to her without realizing it? Since when did he have a soul anyway?

"I've been worried about you," she continued, concern evident in every line of her face. "I've heard so many horrible things about your father, and read so many…"

"Hang on," Malfoy cut in. "What have you read? What are they writing in the papers?"

Malfoy couldn't be bothered with reading the Prophet. It was all a load of rubbish anyway. The nerve of them, to insult the Malfoy name! But somehow he was still concerned with the public opinion.

"Oh, but I was just thinking," Kya pressed on, "your life must have been pretty tough."

"Don't be stupid. There's nothing wrong with my dad," said Malfoy, evasively.

"I didn't say your dad. I meant your life. It must be hard, having all those Death Eaters around, and with all those expectations. I can sort of relate to that…"

"What do you mean, relate to? Relate to what? My life is great!"

Why was he turning so defensive? His life was great, wasn't it?

She held his steely grey gaze with her own violently violet one. As they looked into each other's eyes, Draco felt something break inside. The walls he'd built up around his heart seemed to be crumbling.

"You can talk to me," she whispered. "I understand."

"How? How can you understand what it's like?"

"What what's like? Talk to me," Kya said patiently.

"This! Everything! My father expects me to become a Death Eater, even when he himself got put in Azkaban. It's like I don't have control over my own future. I don't know what I want to do. I know my mother's drinking; she hides it, but I can tell she is, and the house elves won't do what they're told, everything's a mess…"

She put her hand on his shoulder.

Now that he'd started talking, it was as if a dam had burst inside him and the words came out like a stream. He had no power over it.

"They've always given me stuff, and I've always thought it was okay, because all parents do that sort of thing, and because they love me. But we never talked to each other. They hired a platoon of servants to take care of me, and read me bedtime stories, and I never saw them at home. No Christmas dinners with the family or anything. All I knew was that my father expected me to become a Death Eater, and that he would buy me anything as long as I pretended I wanted to. But I don't want to! I want to be free from all that. I want to…"

She looked at him intently with her big, amethyst eyes.

"What do you want, Draco?" she asked him.

"I don't know," said Draco. "I just want to have time to figure it out on my own, you know?"

"I know," said Kya. "I know all too well what you mean."

* * *

Ron wandered aimlessly through the corridors. He couldn't stand being in the company of friends who to him seemed to have transformed completely overnight. Ginny in her apathy, Harry in his apathy and chronic confusion, Hermione in what could only be described as her obliviousness… and Malfoy. 

This bothered Ron immensely. Three weeks ago everyone had known Malfoy was an evil bastard, but today – today Hermione had sprinted off to talk to Kya and him, as if he had never called her a Mudblood, and she had never had cause to punch him in the face. And it was all revolving around Kya.

As soon as _she _entered the room, things changed. Hermione became an airhead, Ginny lost her spirit and Harry seemed to lose his mind entirely. Malfoy turned into a star struck romantic.

Ron himself was the only one who seemed to remain unaffected by her hypnotic charm. Perhaps it was because he had never been particularly impressed by that charm to begin with. To him she seemed condescending, full of self-importance, and always ready to show off her special talents, even while smiling in that shy, modestly honey soaked fashion which made him want to retch. It was tonight that his eyes had finally opened. She was clearly out to get them.

The first thing he had noticed was what she had dressed up as. A bloody Spiderwoman. He hadn't realized that that was what she had designed her costume to look like, in the room of requirement. He hadn't really been paying attention to her then, but tonight the effect she had had on his friends and enemy had been all too obvious. The effect she had had on the room at large had been astonishing. Everyone had paused in their dance routines, people had dropped their forks, one boy had dropped the glass he'd been holding and even the music had seemed to slow down. Ron probably wouldn't have been immune to it either, if it hadn't been for that spider costume…

His friends hadn't recovered after that. Harry had got that dazed, slightly worried frown permanently fixed on his face. Ginny, who had previously been so radiant as to be practically glowing, had snuffed out like a candle under an open faucet. Afterwards she had sat down at the table and poured herself drink after drink, making Ron wonder what would happen if she found out about Dean Thomas's purloined bottles of Firewhiskey. Malfoy hadn't said a spiteful word to them all evening.

Finally, it was Hermione who troubled him the most. She had morphed from the intelligent young woman he adored into a giggling, prepubescent girl, in front of his very eyes. She had started to behave like her own worst nightmare. Her voice had turned bright and bubbly. Her hair had shone in the light of the floating chandeliers, although she was supposed to be dressed as a common Scottish mermaid. He could swear he had seen blondish highlights. She had repeatedly asked him if her makeup looked okay, and her hair, from the back... She had never used to wear so much makeup before. She was turning into a combination of Kya and Lavender Brown.

Ron wasn't going to stand for it any longer. He was going to take action. He had to find someone who had also noticed what was going on. There had to be _someone. _If there wasn't, then that would mean he was going crazy, and that was no good...

Right on cue, he bumped into Snape.

* * *


	11. Unholy Alliances

**Disclaimer: **We don't own Mary Poppins or the Harry Potter universe.

**A/N: **Thanks **Akalei!** We had finished this story before we posted the first chapter. We try to update every day.

* * *

**FFF**

**11. – Unholy Alliances **

Harry and Ginny walked listlessly towards Gryffindor Tower. Virtually all of the castle, excepting the great hall, appeared to be deserted. There was no sign of Peeves, Mrs Norris, or any of the other creatures that usually haunted the corridors at night. They were all at the Halloween ball. That was why, when Harry and Ginny reached the entrance hall, the sound of two people talking made them stop abruptly in their tracks.

If they were surprised, then Malfoy and Kya seemed equally so.

"Potter!" said Malfoy, before anyone else had time to speak. "Had a fight with your little girlfriend?"

Harry just looked at him.

"Honestly Malfoy, that's not even particularly insulting," said Ginny. "Are you afraid of letting on to_ your_ girlfriend who you really are?"

"Oh, give him a break," said Kya. "Your always badmouthing him and he's never talked to me about you."

Ginny looked nettled.

"Well, he wouldn't, seeing as you hang out with us. He wants to gain your trust," said Harry, trying to sound logical and failing miserably.

Malfoy looked on the verge of sticking his tongue out at him, but Kya interrupted the two before they could really get into a fight.

"Please don't argue," she said, her voice quivering. "I want us all to be friends. Can't you do that for me?" Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. One single droplet escaped, making its glimmering way down her smooth alabaster cheek.

Harry and Malfoy glared at each other for a moment. Then Malfoy nodded stiffly. Harry shrugged. Kya looked immeasurably relieved, and she gave them each a friendly, platonic hug.

Seeing the look Harry gave Kya, Ginny felt a deep sadness well up inside her. Without a second thought, she turned on her heel and walked to her dormitory, as fast as she could. She didn't say a word, because she felt sure that if she tried to talk, her voice would fail her.

She had of course noticed before how Harry, along with all the other males at Hogwarts, fawned over Kya. She couldn't say that she blamed him for it. Kya seemed to be practically perfect in every way, and Ginny herself idolised the older girl. Still, she couldn't help but feel a bit… unworthy when she was in her company. Like she could never be as clever, beautiful, charming, or good at Quidditch - which had always been her forte - as her. And now Kya had got Harry to form a truce with Malfoy.

Ginny had really started to believe that Harry liked her better. That she was special to him, in spite of Kya's specialness in general. That just _maybe_ she had something Kya didn't.

When she went into her dormitory, she knew she would be awake for a long time, wondering what could have happened if Kya and Malfoy hadn't arrived.

* * *

In the great hall, Hermione was the belle of the ball after Kya had left. She happily danced the night away with a Ravenclaw boy dressed up as Prince Charming, who considered himself very lucky. Since she had magically altered her dress so that it wouldn't hinder her dancing, she had been able to do it very well, after a while. In fact, she danced better than everyone else. 

Serves them right for not learning how to make their costumes more practical, she thought, snottily.

In between the dances she looked for her friends. First she was worried, and then she became angry with them for having made her worried. It was just typical of them to leave so early, and not see how all her work was paying off.

Then she went back to being worried again.

But surely they would understand if she didn't go looking for them. She _couldn't _leave the ball. Not right then, when everything was going so well…

* * *

Meanwhile, one of the deserted classrooms was deserted no more. 

"Why did you want to talk to me, Weasley?" said Snape. He was obviously intensely bored.

Ron gritted his teeth. He had to face facts. He was sure that Snape hadn't fallen for Kya's act, but he might just be the only one who hadn't.

"It's about Kya Morris," he said.

"What about her?" said Snape, and he strode over to the window.

"Well," said Ron. "I'm not sure she's right in the head. Um… since you seem to hate her, I thought you might have noticed it too…?"

Snape directed his most intimidating gaze at him. Ron consequently felt very nervous, as well as more than a little offended. He had to keep repeating to himself that hexing Snape was not the answer. He knew this was going to be very difficult, but he was determined to gain his professor's co-operation.

"I would not be discussing this with you, only Harry's head's in the clouds, Ginny's depressed and Hermione's acting _wrong_," Ron summarised. "Besides, she's going out with Malfoy."

"Hermione?" said Snape, startled for once.

Ron gave him a look of pure disgust.

"No, Kya. Malfoy's hardly insulted us all week, either," he said, before realizing that slandering Snape's favourite student was probably a bad idea.

"Well, you are all in the middle of puberty, you know," said Snape, condescendingly. "That does tend to change people's attitudes."

Ron felt heat rise to his ears. Snape took no notice of it.

"What I'm worried about," he continued, "is the professors."

"The professors," said Ron, momentarily forgetting how incredibly annoyed he was. _Now _what was he going on about?

"Especially Dumbledore," said Snape.

"Dumbledore!" Ron exclaimed. It was as if somebody had said _Lumos _in his brain."Why isn't he doing anything about this… thing?"

"Like what?" Snape sneered. "Just because your friends are acting slightly out of character? Do you realize she hasn't actually done anything yet? He has more urgent troubles to deal with."

"Such as?"

Snape looked pityingly at him.

"I'm sorry, Weasley. Just because you are perceptive about your female friends, I should never have assumed you hadn't forgotten about _him, _like everybody else seems to have."

Ron chose to ignore the slur.

"Let me clarify a couple of things for you," Snape continued in the same vein. "The Dark Lord is still very much alive, and gaining strength with every passing day. That he hasn't made a major move, signifies that he is planning something big. As of yet, Dumbledore is the greatest obstacle standing in his way. The ministry may have opened its eyes, but it is still an ineffective force."

Well, at least Ron could agree with that.

"The Dark Lord has managed to infiltrate the school before, right under Dumbledore's nose. This makes it not only possible, but likely, that even if he can't be here himself, he's got one or more of his minions on the job. Dumbledore has told me to keep a lookout, and so I have. Who do you think is the probable spy?"

The new student, Ron immediately thought.

"Exactly," said Snape.

Ron jumped.

"Perhaps you should take an occlumency course this year, Weasley," said Snape, threateningly. "Your mind is ridiculously open to probing, which is why I am surprised that you haven't fallen under her spell. Be so sure, I'll figure out why that is. However, since it seems you have escaped it, you should try to _act_ like you have fallen for her, if it isn't beyond your capacity. That way, we might get a hint of her plan, before she does away with you."

Ron shivered.

"Meet me here in a week, at midnight, and tell me how bad it is. Now you must go back to your common room, before she notices you are away."

Swallowing his irritation at being ordered around like a five year-old, Ron simply nodded, and turned to leave.

"By the way," said Snape. "Avoid eye contact with her at all costs."

"Yeah, like that's going to be easy," Ron muttered to himself, after having exited the classroom.

He had a lot to think about on his way back. He had never suspected things were this serious, but Snape was obviously worried. Much as he might dislike his teacher, he couldn't deny that if anyone would recognise a spy, it would be Snape. Besides, he had no choice but to work with him. He had nobody else to turn to. He didn't know who he could trust. The question was; would he be able to keep his sanity, with no one but his potions master to confide in?

One thing was clear to Ron by the time he entered the dormitory that night. He had to shake some sense into his friends.

* * *


	12. The Plot Thickens

**Disclaimer: **J. K. owns the characters, the setting, and everything except our OCs and possibly the plot.

**A/N: **Please review.

* * *

**FFF**

**12 – The Plot Thickens**

Winter came early that year.

When they woke up on the morning of November the first, the ground outside was powdered with snow and it was freezing cold.

"This is going to mess up our Quidditch practice," said Ron.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll work out fine," said Ginny, looking out of the window. "There's Luna, in the air."

"What is she doing, flying on her own?"

"I don't know," said Ginny.

Then she suddenly gasped and stood up.

* * *

"It's rare for a broom to just spin out of control like that," said Ron. "Might have been the weather." 

"She didn't seem to have any trouble," said Ginny. "Until she fell off…"

They were in the hospital wing, standing around Luna's bed. She was unconscious and had broken a few bones, but Madam Pomfrey had said that she could fix her up alright.

"She was so high up," said Ginny in a small voice. Kya laid her arm around the younger girl's shoulders. Ron flinched. It was all he could do to keep himself from glaring murderously at the two of them.

"Well," said Kya, "I'm glad they at least cancelled Quidditch practice for today."

"Yeah," said Harry, moodily.

"It was a miracle that she survived at all, wasn't it?" said Hermione.

"Indeed," said Kya. "I think she fell into a shrubbery."

She leant over Luna and patted her hand.

"Oh Luna," she sighed. "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. I wish you all the best in recovery."

They were silent for a few moments. After a while, Hermione checked her watch and said she had to get her homework for tomorrow done. Luna lay still in her bed, looking more dead than asleep. There wasn't much left for anyone to say and soon they all started to find excuses to leave. Finally only Ron and Neville remained sitting by the bed.

"So," said Neville. "Why was she flying in that weather?"

"I don't know. She does these sort of things sometimes, doesn't she?" said Ron, shrugging.

"I'm not sure though," said Neville. "I know she's eccentric, but it's _really_ cold outside."

"Perhaps she was practicing for something," Ron suggested.

"Yeah," said Neville. "I don't know. I haven't really talked to her much, since we were at the Department of Mysteries."

"Neither have I," said Ron.

"How are you doing anyway?" said Neville. "How's Harry? How are the others?"

"They're fine," Ron lied.

"Oh." said Neville. "That's great." He looked thoughtful.

"You know, I haven't really talked to any of you either, since last term," he said.

Ron considered this for a moment.

"Yeah, you're right," he said. "I hadn't thought about it."

"Not since the Golden Trio became the Kya Quartet anyway," said Neville. Then he coughed, looking embarrassed at his own nerve.

At first, Ron couldn't get a word out. Neville was avoiding his eyes. Ron stared at him in confusion. "You mean you don't - you don't like her?"

"Well, of course I do," said Neville quickly. "I mean, _everyone_ likes Kya…"

Ron's heart sank. Neville frowned.

"Why?" he asked. "Don't you?"

Ron narrowed his eyes. He could have sworn Neville had looked hopeful for just a second. Maybe he and Snape weren't alone after all.

"Well," he said, tentatively. "Thing is…"

* * *

Dumbledore paced back and forth. The portraits on the walls of his office looked at him interestedly, but none of them spoke to him. 

He was beginning to get frustrated. Sometimes it was as if the walls were closing in on him. He always seemed to have paperwork to do. What he couldn't figure out was how he could have received so much of it, as no-one ever seemed to visit him in his office anymore. He rarely left the room himself. Sometimes he told himself that he ought to go out and stretch his legs, but then he would realize that either he was too tired, or he had too much work to do.

So much work. He hardly knew what he had just written about in that report he had just sent off with that owl… How had the owl got in? He was always too distracted to bother with opening the windows. As he thought of this, he noticed that the air was quite stifling. Where was the oxygen coming from anyway?

Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the room. He needed to get out. He stared determinedly at the door.

He was going to go for a walk. To get some exercise, he told himself. Clear his head. Everyone needed to clear their heads now and then.

Of course, he could always use his pensive for that. He'd been putting memories into that pensive for weeks now and he would always feel light-headed and happy afterwards.

Still, he needed the exercise. He could go for a walk after he'd finished the reports that were piling on his desk.

Although, when he thought about it, he really was very tired, and hardly felt in the mood for a walk at all. Was it because he was getting old? He probably shouldn't exert himselfso much. He needed to be careful after all, and conserve his energy. What if he was ill? He should see Madam Pomfrey, right after he had written those reports. Or maybe tomorrow. Yes, it would definitely have to be tomorrow. At the moment, he just didn't have time...

* * *

Later that afternoon, in the common room, Hermione was studying while Harry, Ginny and Ron were haphazardly playing Exploding Snap, and talking together about random things. After Hermione had let herself get distracted by them for too long, she went back to her books, and the others inevitably began discussing Quidditch. 

Quidditch wasn't all they ever talked about. In fact, they hadn't had the chance to talk about it properly for a long time, since Hermione always made a huffy noise when they neared the subject. They felt like they had to talk about it now, though, because they had won so spectacularly against Ravenclaw in the first match of the season. This was partly because the opposing team had been too busy staring at Kya to be able to stay in formation, let alone pay attention to the bludgers.

As soon as Harry and Ginny started singing Kya's praises, Ron hurriedly began talking about how great they both had been as well, what a nice looking couple they'd been at the ball, how good Ginny was getting at Defence Against the Dark Arts and how she should show that to Harry; anything to steer talk away from the lilac-eyed demon. If he could make them become embarrassed, quiet and confused, that would be a fun bonus.

However, Harry and Ginny paid no attention to what he said. Soon he realized that diverting their interest was pointless. He might as well concentrate on finding a way to turn the topic of discussion to his advantage.

"Hrm," he said, when Ginny drew breath.

He forced his expression into a look of sincere regret.

"About that, there's something I really need to say," he said.

"You're not quitting the team, are you?" said Ginny. "Because I can understand if you would, but…"

"No, I'm not quitting the team," said Ron. "And what's that supposed to mean? Oh, forget it," he hurried on, before his friends could reply. "I meant Kya, obviously."

"Why?" said Ginny.

"What about her?" said Harry.

Both of them sounded suspicious.

"I need to apologise for some things I said at the ball," Ron said. "You didn't tell her about it, did you?"

"Well, no, but we considered it," said Ginny.

"Are you doing this to humour us? Because you don't need to, you know," said Harry. "You're entitled to your own opinion."

"No, I mean it," said Ron. "I've been doing some thinking today, and I've realized you were right. I must have been… jealous, of her.. flying abilities."

He had to make an effort to get these last words out. However, Harry and Ginny seemed to believe him.

"Oh Ron," said Ginny. "It's really nice of you to say so. Because she's so great, and it was she who thought of having the ball in the first place, you know…"

Harry twitched a little.

"And she counts you as a good friend," Ginny went on, obliviously. "I'm jealous too, you know, but I won't let that get in the way of our friendship."

Ron lost badly at the game of Exploding Snap, since his mind was occupied. Harry and Ginny hadn't told Kya about his little outburst at the ball, but they had considered doing it. He couldn't make a slip like that again. So far, Kya had largely ignored him in favour of the others, but things like that could bring him to her attention. If she knew he suspected her, she wouldn't talk about things in front of him, and he would be useless as a spy. He would have to be on constant guard now, or else Snape wouldn't trust him anymore.

He wasn't used to doing these things.

* * *


	13. Angst

**Disclaimer: **J. K. Rowling owns everything in this story except for two characters.

**A/N: **Hey **Maddie** and **Akalei**! **Maddie**, we've already written this story and are trying to post one chapter a day. Our goal is to have all of the story up before July the 16th, so don't worry. By the way, in this chapter you will learn what species the OC belongs to. I bet you'll all be very surprised. To any others, you are free to flame us. That's what FFF means. So, be our guests!

* * *

**FFF**

**13. Angst**

"Harry," Kya murmured, laying a pale, well-manicured hand on his shoulder. Her fingernails were painted purple… purple like her eyes. Her robes were the same colour, as it was Saturday, and there was no need to wear the school uniform. Not that she ever wore it anyway.

Harry awoke with a start. He had been dosing in a chair in front of the common room fireplace. It was snowing merrily outside, and there was a spirit of Christmas in the air, a month and a half before the event. The common room was empty, with the exception of Harry and Kya, and Ron. Ron was to all appearances fast asleep on the couch. In reality, he was hanging on to every word they were saying.

"Harry," said Kya again, giving him a little shake.

"Wha…?" said Harry.

"It's such a lovely morning. You shouldn't be sleeping," she said.

"Yes, it is an exceptionally beautiful winter." Harry agreed.

Ron had to forcefully restrain himself from sitting up and hitting Harry over the head. An _exceptionally beautiful winter?_ Come on. His best friend did not talk like that!

"Oh, it takes me back," Kya said.

"Did you celebrate Christmas with your mentor?"

"No, I meant before that," she said. "When my parents were still alive…"

* * *

Harry didn't dare ask what had happened to her parents. The memory of it was obviously torturing her, and the amethyst orbs of her eyes were filling up with glittering tears that threatened to spill over and cascade down her pearly white, perfect cheeks. 

He realized he hadn't heard a word of what she was saying to him. Yet he was filled with such an urge to express his sympathy for her in some way. Finally, he said,

"I know how you feel. I never knew my parents, but last year my godfather was killed."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, how awful," said Kya, her tears finally brimming over.

"He's the only parent I've had. Now I've got no-one to talk to," said Harry.

* * *

Ron sat up straight, and stared at him. Harry had vehemently refused to talk about Sirius with them. Why was he spilling his guts to _her _now? 

He suddenly realized that he was sitting up, in full view. Kya, mercifully, had her back turned to him. Harry was entirely too focused on her to pay Ron any notice. Ron saw that they seemed to be staring very deeply into each other's eyes.

"You can talk to me," she whispered. "I understand."

Harry nodded.

Ron nearly gagged.

Harry and Kya kept on talking. Ron couldn't very well leave the room, or Kya would realize he had been eavesdropping, so he laid back on the couch. He would have to wait it out.

* * *

"He just looked at her intently. It was like he was hypnotized." 

"Are you sure?" said Neville.

"He didn't blink," said Ron. "And then he started to get poetic…"

Neville shuddered.

They were walking down the corridor. Somewhere a clock had just struck twelve. Ron had borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak, without asking. He figured it was sufficient payback for having to listen to such a repulsive conversation earlier.

The castle was mostly quiet. They had to be careful, to avoid walking through one of the ghosts that drifted past them unexpectedly every now and then. As they neared their destination, Neville stopped. He jabbed at Ron.

"There's something in that cupboard," he whispered.

They eyed it apprehensively. It was a regular broom cupboard, but sure enough, when they stopped to listen, they could hear it make a faint rattling noise.

"Well, we'll just speak more quietly, that's all," Ron muttered. "We're already late. Come on."

They opened the door to the classroom.

Snape turned around to look at them, and he raised one eyebrow when he saw that there was apparently nothing there.

"Does Potter know you're using his cloak?" he asked them.

They took it off, somewhat belatedly. Snape's scowl deepened. At first Ron was unsure of why, but then he realized he had forgotten to mention to him that he would be bringing Neville.

"Longbottom," Snape hissed. "What is he doing here? Why did you take him along?"

"I…"

"You imbecile," Snape whispered. "I realize it might be difficult for any oxygen to reach your single brain cell through that thick cranium of yours, Weasley, but what possessed you to bring Longbottom?"

"He's on our side!" Ron protested. "He-"

"I thought my instructions were perfectly clear!" Snape burst out. "You must not draw attention to yourself! Have you gone around telling people about this? What were you thinking? And Longbottom, of all people…"

"Hey," said Neville.

"Shut it, you," Snape snapped. He looked at Ron, with the utmost contempt. " How do you know he's not actually on her side? You just took his word for it, didn't you? You've compromised us. I shall have to put a memory charm on him now, and she'll notice the difference in his behaviour after that."

"That is just the thing, isn't it?" Neville cut in. He was by then very indignant. "She _doesn't _notice me. I don't think we've ever said two words to each other. She's obviously concentrated her efforts on Harry and Hermione. She thinks the rest of us will just tag along."

Ron looked at Neville in awe. He hadn't thought of that. More importantly, he hadn't thought Neville would be thinking of that. And Neville had stood up to Snape. Admittedly, he was now looking as if he would like to sink through the floor, but still…

Snape paused before replying.

"Very perceptive, Longbottom," he said, coldly. "You did say your friends were acting out of character, didn't you, Weasley?"

"Yes, but-" Ron began. He was interrupted by the unexpected entrance of professor Jacobson. The Defence teacher rushed into the room, slamming the door behind her. She looked flustered as she pulled off her hat. Her hair clung to her face and her shoulders, making crackling noises.

"Sorry I'm late," she said.

Ron gaped at her for a moment. Then he turned back to Snape, and looked at him incredulously.

"You told her to come?" he said.

"I, unlike you, have good reasons to trust-"

"Well, maybe I have reasons to trust Neville!" yelled Ron. "He went with us to the Department of Mysteries, for instance. You never thought of that, did you? You never heard me out-"

"If you dare ever interrupt me again, Weasel, I'll-"

"Oh, stop it, you two," said the Defence teacher. "You're just whining. Longbottom's a good boy, so he can stay. He's not affected. You can see it in his eyes."

Snape looked from professor Jacobson to Neville, and then he nodded briskly.

"So," said professor Jacobson, turning to face them. "What's the plan of action?"

They stared at her.

"Um," said Neville.

"We don't really have one yet," said Ron.

"We haven't yet gauged the extent of what she can do," said Snape. He looked at Ron.

"What're you looking at me for?" said Ron. "Oh, right… er… Well. Harry told her it was an exceptionally beautiful winter. And… Hermione's highlighted her hair."

Snape glared at him as if he'd grown an arm out of his head on purpose. Professor Jacobson, on the other hand, seemed to take him seriously.

"Subtle but definite signs," she said. "Mind you, it _was _beautiful this morning. Pity it all melted away."

"We think she can hypnotize people," said Neville.

"Well," said the professor, "of course she can. She's a Veela. Didn't you know?"

"What?" said Snape.

Jacobson turned to him, frowning.

"Are you sure?" said Snape. "People's reactions to Veelas are usually more extreme…"

"Well, yes, obviously she has learned to control her ability remarkably well," said Jacobson, seeming surprised that Snape hadn't realized this. "She is also an experienced legilimens, if I am not mistaken. There is something hypnotic about her eyes, something about their exceedingly purple colour. It isn't natural. I wonder how it came about."

She was talking about Kya as though she was an interesting scientific experiment. Perhaps she was, in the eyes of the professor, Ron thought.

Suddenly he remembered something.

"This is your classroom, isn't it?" he said to Jacobson.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what's in the broom cupboard outside? We heard something moving in there."

Snape jolted.

"What?" he exclaimed again. "_Weasley_… why didn't you say there was something in the cupboard?"

"I just did," said Ron, gritting his teeth. "You never let me-"

"Silence!" Snape spat. He pushed Neville out of the way. "You should have told me immediately…"

He walked out into the hallway to investigate.

"Wait," said Jacobson, hurrying after him. "It's only my broom! It always gets a bit twitchy when I leave it here for the night…"

"She keeps her broom in the broom cupboard?" said Ron in disbelief.

"Ron, look," said Neville.

Neville was standing by the window. He motioned to Ron, who walked over.

"What?" said Ron. He looked down at the dark grounds, far below.

Then he saw what Neville had noticed. There was a small, white figure moving down there. It was walking towards the Forbidden Forest.

* * *


	14. Midnight

**Disclaimer: **J. K. Rowling owns everything in this story except for the OCs, as we are sure you're all aware of.

**A/N: **Well done **Akalei **who predicted it in chapter four!

For this chapter we have created a monster.

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**FFF**

**14. Midnight**

Draco Malfoy woke up in a cold sweat. He had had the most horrible nightmare of his entire life. He had been all alone, standing in the ruins of his manor, and he had been looking for someone. Then Pansy Parkinson had come and tugged at his shirt. He had felt irritated, but as soon as he'd turned to face her she had disappeared. In her place there had been a giant, hairy, gross spider, with clicking mandibles and spiky fur, and blazing yellow eyes. He had screamed, and screamed, and screamed…

He wanted to talk to Kya – no, he _needed _to talk to her. She was the only one who understood, the only one who didn't see him as an egoistical little snot. Even his friends thought of him as that… not that he had any real friends. He'd thought he had Pansy, but she had ignored him for a long time. Kya was the only one he could really talk to.

She made him realize how horrid his life had been up to that point. She made him want to change.

* * *

"It's Luna," said Jacobson. She peered down at the white figure which was making its solitary way across the grounds. 

"Luna?" said Ron and Neville at the same time.

"What is she doing there?" Jacobson wondered.

"She is heading towards the Forbidden Forest," muttered Snape.

"And in her nightgown too," said Jacobson. "My, my, she'll catch her death of cold. I'll go down and get her."

She handed Ron her omniocculars and went to fetch her broomstick. No one said anything.

She opened the window and climbed up on the sill. Then she was off.

* * *

Draco was tired out of his mind by the time he reached the top of the astronomy tower. He didn't know why he had expected to find her there, but nevertheless, there she was. 

He caught his breath.

She sat perched on a ledge, elegant and graceful as a lily, in a flowing robe that was dark as the swaying trees below, and elbow-length black silk gloves. As he watched, the wind tugged at the black gauze of her cloak, making the hood slide off her head. For once the lustrous, cascading locks of her hair were pulled back in an elegant knot, leaving a few pale, gossamer-like strands to caress her neck and temples. Not even the profound darkness that was midnight in the Astronomy tower could mute the near-incandescence of her flawless skin. She had not yet noticed him, and in that unguarded moment there was such pain, such longing, such infinite grief in those amethyst eyes that he had to fight back tears.

Slowly she turned to face him. Was that a flicker of annoyance in her eyes? But then they widened when she saw the state he was in, and she extended her hand, beckoning him to her. Draco thought she looked ever so vulnerable and sweet. He felt vulnerable as well.

They hugged.

"Tell me what's wrong," she murmured beseechingly.

As Draco poured his heart out to her, she couldn't help glancing out across the dark expanse of the lawn every now and then. She looked worried, but Draco was sure that if anything serious was bothering her, she would tell him about it.

* * *

The dark shape tore through the air. Suddenly it dove, like a falcon, snatching up the white-clad girl from the ground, and carrying her away. 

Ron had trouble following her movement with the omniocculars. Professor Jacobson was an excellent flyer, and since she knew that people were watching her anxiously, she couldn't help showing off a little. She swooped down, did a funny loop and spiralled up towards the window. Ron fervently hoped she hadn't forgotten completely that she had a passenger onboard.

The professor landed on the windowsill, and Luna appeared to be intact.

"Lovegood," Snape began. He looked very sinister, his dark cloak billowing in the wind which came through the open window.

"Don't bother," said professor Jacobson. "She's unconscious. She collapsed the moment I picked her up."

"What's wrong with her?" Neville wondered.

"Sleepwalking?" suggested Ron.

"I thought so too, at first," said Jacobson. "But her eyes were open."

Jacobson and Snape exchanged a dark look.

"What is it?" said Ron, nervously. He could tell that something was terribly off about the situation.

"Er... shouldn't we take her to madam Pomfrey?" asked Neville.

He got no response.

Everyone was staring at Luna, who was stirring. After a moment, she stood up.

"Luna, are you okay?" Ron asked, hesitantly.

She didn't say anything. Her eyes were wide open, and Ron thought they seemed a bit glassy.

"Why are you out of bed at this time of night? Lovegood?" said Snape.

"Luna?" said Jacobson.

It was as if she couldn't hear them. She was staring straight ahead, and then she started walking towards the door.

"Luna! Where are you going?" Jacobson exclaimed.

"Lovegood! Stop right there!" said Snape. "Stop her!"

Ron seized Luna by the arm. Neville shoved a desk in front of the doorway, and positioned himself by it.

She shook off Ron almost effortlessly, and since the door was barred, she started to walk towards the window. When Jacobson and Snape attempted to stop her she struggled violently, kicking and biting them. Ron could see that they had to work to keep their hold on her. She seemed to posses an unnatural strength.

"_Stupify!" _cried Neville.

Luna stopped struggling and went limp in the professors' arms. They carefully placed her in the chair by the desk.

Then they stood looking at her for a while.

"It was Kya, wasn't it?" said Ron.

Snape snorted.

"Must be," said Jacobson.

Then Neville spoke up.

"Remember the day when I blew up my 500th cauldron?"

"I think so," said Ron.

"Yes," said Snape. "It was memorable."

"Anyway," said Neville, "I don't think you were there, but I was reading an article about the attack on that village, which the ministry stopped. And Kya became really interested, and Luna wandered over and told her that her dad had tipped off the ministry about it. Then Kya started asking her about who her dad was and what he did. I didn't think about it at the time, but…"

"Yes," said professor Jacobson. "Interesting. Yes, that would certainly explain that horrible accident Mr Lovegood had three weeks ago."

"He was in an accident?" said Ron.

"Yes, and it was nearly fatal too. He fell down a flight of stairs."

"They obviously tried to make it_ look_ like an accident," said Snape. "Probably they want to make sure that people don't suspect she's a spy – as these events confirm that she is."

"Yes, obviously," said professor Jacobson.

"Shouldn't we take her to Madam Pomfrey?" said Neville again.

Professor Jacobson conjured up a stretcher and, levitating the unconscious Luna onto it, set off for the hospital wing. Ron and Neville were left alone in the classroom with Snape.

None of them said a word to one another until Jacobson returned a few minutes later.

"I told a house elf to guard the door, and come straight to me if anything happens," she informed them. "Now, before this little disturbance," she added, brightly, "I believe we were discussing plans of action."

"What plans?" said Ron.

"The plans to liberate the victims of this hypnosis, of course."

"So we have plans now?"

"Yes," said Snape. "I have actually been doing some serious thinking about the problems at hand. I would be much surprised if you recall it, but at the beginning of term, we were working with the muddling potion. This potion is designed to confuse an opponent, and weaken his mental defences, making him open to suggestion."

"Yes, I know," said Ron, irritably.

"Don't interrupt," said Snape. "As I was about to say, the antidote to this potion might well be effective against miss Morris' form of mind control as well."

"Although you might have to tweak it a bit," said Jacobson. "I wouldn't be surprised if Morris is more powerful than a muddling potion."

"Yes, well, that can be taken care of easily," said Snape, "as long as we have someone to try it on."

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	15. Persuasion

**Disclaimer: **J. K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter books.

**A/N: **Yeah.

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**FFF**

**15. – Persuasion**

Professor McGonagall hurried up the flight of stairs, towards Dumbledore's office. She hadn't been there for weeks. There just hadn't been a reason for her to visit him.

Well, of course she could have just dropped by his office and played a game of Exploding Snap with him like they had always used to do, but she had been busy, and so, apparently, had he. She hadn't seen him out and about for a month. And now this… this was getting alarming.

She reached the stone gargoyle that guarded his office.

"T-treacle tart," she gasped, out of breath from having run all the way from her classroom.

She entered his office, and looked around the room. She spotted the headmaster immediately. He was sitting tranquilly behind his desk, twiddling the quill in his hand. Although he had a humungous pile of papers in front of him, he seemed as happy as ever.

"Albus?" said professor McGonagall.

"Hm?" said Dumbledore. "What is it, Minerva?"

"Well," said McGonagall, "The Fat Friar told me you have been screaming all morning about wanting to get out, and I thought I'd better come and check…"

"Screaming?" said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "Now, why would I be doing that?"

"I don't know. He said you were shouting that the walls were closing in on you, and that you couldn't breathe, and something about the door being stuck."

"The door isn't stuck," said Dumbledore. "You just came in."

"I'm just repeating what he said."

"I can't recall saying any such things," said Dumbledore. "I can assure you, I am quite well. Now, I'm afraid I have a lot of paperwork to do, so if you would be so kind…"

"Yes, of course," said McGonagall. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. Once I get my hands on that Friar," she muttered, as she closed the door behind her. "I'll make him grateful he's already dead…"

Since she was too preoccupied with these vengeful ruminations, the professor didn't hear the sound of someone banging his head against a desk.

* * *

Ron was sitting outside the classroom. Charms wasn't going to start for another quarter of an hour, but he could stomach only so much time in the company of Kya and her minions, and besides, he needed a few minutes to complete his homework. He had noticed a definitive upswing in his academic results, since Kya had come. As he could no longer spend so much time with his friends, he had taken to studying a lot more. 

After a while, Ginny came over and sat down beside him.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi," said Ron. "Why aren't you in class?"

"Oh, I'm supposed to have Divination, but professor Trelawney predicted that lots of accidents would happen during this lesson, so it has been cancelled."

"Good for you," said Ron. He didn't really want to talk to her either.

"Why aren't you with the others?" Ginny asked. "I noticed you've been drifting away from them a bit."

"Well," said Ron. "Yeah…"

"Well, that's a pity," said Ginny. "You've been friends for so many years. You're not getting split up about Kya, are you?"

Ron avoided her eyes.

"Well, maybe."

"Yeah," said Ginny. "I know how you feel. I mean, I really like her. She's wonderful, and all that. It's just that I wish Harry didn't like her so much, you know?"

"Do you know if he _likes _her, or if he just likes her?" Ron wondered. He was beginning to feel a bit concerned for his friend.

"I'd like to think he just likes her, but I don't know," said Ginny. She bit her lip. "You know, she made him form a truce with Malfoy. I know he'd never do something like that for me. Not that I'd ever think of asking him to, of course. Honestly, why would someone want him to do that?"

"Yes, don't you think it's a bit strange?" said Ron, without thinking. "Why would someone want to go out with Malfoy anyway? She must be really dense to think-"

"Ron!" Ginny hissed. "Really, what is your problem?" Then she bit her tongue. She was clearly very upset. "I mean, don't say that. She's absolutely perfect. She hasn't got a single flaw…"

Was that a note of regret in her voice?

Ron hoped so, because now he had to make her see the truth. He had blown his cover. If word reached Kya that he was less than thrilled with her, she would get suspicious of him, and perhaps he too would be made to take a midnight stroll in the forest.

"Ginny," he said. "Please hear me out. Don't you realize she is _too_ perfect? She looks Harry in the eyes, squeezes out a few tears, and he'll do whatever she says."

"Are you going on about that again?"

"I'm telling you, she's been brainwashing all of you," said Ron. "You remember when we played Quidditch, and no-one in the other team was focusing on the game? You just flew up to the hoops and chucked the ball through five times in a row without anyone trying to stop you."

"Oh, please," Ginny scoffed. "That was-"

"And Hermione," Ron continued. "She's turned into a complete idiot."

"You're exaggerating," said Ginny.

"Well, maybe not a complete idiot, but when was the last time we heard her mention _Hogwarts, a History?_ And Harry wouldn't form a truce with Malfoy to save his life, unless he'd gone insane."

Ginny was about to stalk off in a huff, but his last sentence stopped her.

"You know, that is very odd. I was wondering about that," she admitted. "But maybe he _has_ gone insane. That still doesn't prove anything about Kya."

"Ginny, you can't believe what you're saying."

"Yes, I do. I think," she said.

"Look," said Ron, patiently. "You said he'd never form a truce with Malfoy for you. I'm willing to swear he wouldn't do it for me or Hermione either, and we've been friends for years. The way he acts around Kya… it's like he waits for her lead, and then says what he thinks she wants to hear. You must have noticed this."

"Well," said Ginny, struggling. "If he's in love…"

"Ginny, come on," Ron shouted. "How can he fall in love with _someone who is going out with Malfoy?"_

Ginny had nothing to say against this.

"Besides you know he liked you better. You can't deny that."

"But Ron," said Ginny, in a small voice.

"I'm not the only one who suspects her," said Ron, throwing all caution to the winds in his effort to convince her. "I met Snape and professor Jacobson last night, and Neville too. They all agree with me, and we're going to test an antidote to the muddling potion on Harry or Hermione. If there's no effect, then we've been wrong about it. But in the mean time, please just don't tell anyone about this, please? Kya can't find out about it."

"Well… okay," said Ginny, reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean I believe you."

"You won't say anything?"

"I won't say anything," Ginny assured him. "I have to go now."

And she left.

* * *

Holding up the root between her elegant thumb and forefinger, Kya examined the little green dots on it. 

"Oh, professor," she cried out, urgently. "This one's sick!"

"Oh dear," said Professor Sprout, abandoning Dean Thomas in mid conversation and hurrying over. The entire class stopped what they had been doing and gathered around.

"See, professor, these dots are supposed to be purple," said Kya, dramatically.

"Well spotted, dear," said Sprout. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, lets see if we can save it…"

"Maybe we should check the other roots and see if they're infected too," Neville suggested.

"Good idea, Neville," said Sprout. "You, Dean, Kya, and Lavender, do that. I'll go and get a bottle of pesticide from the shed. The rest of you, get back to what you were doing."

With that, she hurried of.

"Alright," Kya said, distributing smiles around the group, knowing exactly what kind of an effect it had on them. "Let's get to work. Neville, get me a trowel, size five."

Neville was staring determinately at his feet. He muttered an "okay," and shuffled off.

Kya threw a scornful glance at his retreating back, tossing her perfect hair as she did so. Honestly, if you looked up "Lapdog" in the dictionary, you'd find a picture of him, she thought. Well, him and Creevey, and Ron.

Of course, Ron might be under "Sidekick". Either way.

Oh, this was fun. Hm, she thought. Dean. What would he be? Or that weird girl, Luna?

Spiderfood. That was it.

Kya frowned for a moment. Then she smoothed her expression quickly, realizing that it could cause wrinkles.

She was still annoyed about that. Not the wrinkles, but Luna. And there was no way of getting to her now. The same person experiencing three near fatalities in one week would be too suspicious. She would have to leave her alone for a while. Someone was going to pay for what had happened, though…

Her musings were interrupted by Lavender.

"This one has yellow dots, is that alright?" she asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," said Kya.

"I love your new hairstyle," said Lavender. "It just lends itself to that Herbology hat!"

That one would definitely fall under the category of "Simpering Idiot," Kya thought. She and Pansy Parkinson. Or maybe not anymore. Ah, well.

None of Kya's reflections showed on her face, however, as she gave out instructions and supervised the examination of the roots. Her classmates' minds were so deeply saturated with her presence that they were nearly incapable of independent action. They needed her approval for everything. As long as they followed her instructions, they were happy.

Everyone but one…

Ron was standing by his flowerpot, looking terribly downcast. Kya knew that she had to keep up the good spirits of the group, to maintain appearances, so she decided to go over and cheer him up.

"Why so sad?" She asked him.

Ron jumped and looked fearfully up at her. Then he quickly averted his eyes. Kya saw this, but she thought he was doing it because he felt awkward, getting caught moping around.

"Did you and Mya have a fight?" she asked, raising her delicate eyebrows and cocking her head to the side, inquisitively. This made her hair fall over her shoulder in a brilliant cascade, catching the light from the sun. She smiled disarmingly.

"Well," said Ron, looking edgy. "Yes. Yes, we did."

"Oh no, you haven't broken up, have you?" said Kya, feigning alarm. Or perhaps it wasn't feigned. It wouldn't do to have Ron get jealous of Harry or Draco because of the attention she was giving them. She liked having him safely attached to Hermione, her "best friend". Who would she fix Hermione up with otherwise? Who would have her? If she was single, the double dates Kya had planned wouldn't work at all…

"Oh, no," Ron hurriedly assured her, too startled by this assumption to realize that Kya had simply supposed he and Hermione were going out. Which they weren't - not yet, anyway.

"Well, perk up," said Kya. "No-one likes a mope, least of all Herm!"

Seeing that all the activity had come to a complete standstill without her supervision, she quickly got up and started to order people around. That made her feel better. It had not escaped her notice that Ron had not once looked her in the eyes during their talk. He shouldn't be able to resist her crystal clear, compelling gaze… but, no matter. Even if he wasn't as deeply infatuated with her as she had supposed at first, it was hardly likely that he suspected her of anything. He had no reason to.

So she convinced herself that she had nothing to worry about. She would just have to be a bit more watchful. If he turned into a problem, she could handle it. Wasn't he afraid of spiders?

* * *

In truth, Ron was not so much moping, as he was scared half to death. This was the quite natural result of a conversation he had had with Hermione earlier that day. 

Before Herbology, he had taken a quick stroll around the grounds with her. They didn't get much time alone together anymore, and without Kya present, Hermione was nearly herself.

Or so Ron had thought.

"Did you know that Kya sleeps with her eyes open?"

They had been discussing the talent, or lack thereof, of Celestina Warbeck. Why this? Why now?

"Does she?" he said, through gritted teeth.

"Oh, yes," said Hermione. "And she barely breathes. If I didn't know better, I'd have called Madam Pomfrey the other night, but she says it preserves her energy. I don't know if that makes sense, but it seems to work for her. She said she'd teach me how to do it some time."

Ron stopped in his tracks. Kya teach Hermione to sleep with her eyes open?

The image came to him, of Luna's empty gaze that night. That couldn't happen to Hermione. That was too horrible to even think about.

On an impulse, Ron made up his mind. He was going to drag Harry and Hermione to the dungeons after Herbology, and they weren't leaving until they had been cured

**

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Pease review !**


	16. Of Birthdays and Capillaries

**Disclaimer: **J. K.Rowling still owns the Harry Potter universe and everything in it. She doesn't own our OCs, but she can have them, honestly.

**Very long A/N: Akalei - **yes, she is a demon, isn't she? It's the way we like 'em. There are many questions in these new reviews by the way, and that's good. Shows you pay attention when you read. We'll try to answer them the best we can.

**Maddie -** some of your questions will be answered in the story later on. As for the others, which were good questions:

1. - Yes, Harry did study Occlumency, but he never excelled in it, did he? In this story he still hasn't quite mastered it yet. Anyway, Kya is incredibly good at deceiving people, and, as Snape said, she hasn't actually done anyone any harm yet. At least not so that Harry would notice.  
2. - Kya never attempted to take control over Dumbledore the same way she did with the others, because he would have been able to block her.  
3. - We tried to give every character a part for this story, but Hagrid isn't in it, we're afraid. Not that we dislike him or anything, it's just that we wanted to always focus on the plot, and we couldn't work him into it. As for the part about people walking into the forest on a regular basis, Kya sent Luna out at midnight, when everyone was asleep. So was Hagrid, so he wouldn't have noticed.  
4. - About the poison. Partly, Kya wants the deaths to look like accidents, and Snape and Madam Pomfrey would have noticed if students had died from that. Also, Kya likes to have fun, and she digs spiders.  
5. - It's true about Luna's parents, at least about her dad falling down the stairs and Luna going so soon afterwards. But since they failed to kill her dad, Kya still wanted revenge in some way. She didn't think very far, and only realized afterwards that she might have been a bit hasty there. A bit too late.  
**Keemew2**, if you have enough patience to get this far into the story. It's okay to be nitpicky about the Harry-Dursley thing, especially since J. K. Rowling has said that he won't spend the summer there for very long in the next book. Just establishing that we're not trying to copy her here. That would be pointless, since this story will be AU in a month or so anyway. You might as well see it as AU from the start.  
About the Malfoy squealing thing, yes, you're right, we missed that. Just pretend it happened right after our beloved trio's little conversation, for our sakes!

**BuckNC** -Guess it's a question of character interpretation. We still see him as somewhat immature at sixteen, but by no means unintelligent. He is just really not good at handling the situation which has arisen, because it's forcing him to keep things from people he is used to confiding in.

Thanks for the reviews! We're updating a little sooner than usual. There's no way we would have time for it otherwise. I hope there aren't too many mistakes in this.

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**FFF**

**16. – Of Birthdays and Capillaries**

"Where are you going? Why can't I come with you?"

Ron, Neville, Harry and Hermione turned around. Kya was sprinting across the lawn. Ron sighed.

"Look, I really didn't want to tell you this," he said, as Kya came closer, "but we're planning your birthday party. We wanted it to be a surprise, but-"

"My birthday? Oh, you remembered my birthday!" Kya exclaimed, her eyes widening with girlish pleasure. Ron felt strangely heart-warmed for a moment. Neville discreetly trod on his foot, as a way of reminding him not to make eye contact with her.

"That's so sweet of you," Kya gushed. "I'm sorry. I'll go memory charm myself right now!" She giggled and ran off.

"How'd you know it was her birthday?" Neville muttered to Ron, who shrugged.

"Why are we going to the dungeons, if we're planning a party?" Harry asked.

"We need privacy, to be sure she doesn't walk in on us. Come on," said Ron.

A poisonous odour greeted them when they reached the dungeons.

"Are you sure this is the best place…?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yeah. What with this smell, who is going to…"

"Don't bother anymore, Weasley," said Snape, from inside one of the classrooms.

Harry and Hermione both stopped in their tracks.

"What's he talking about?" said Harry. "What's going on, Ron?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but-" Ron began.

"Get them in here," said Snape.

Harry and Hermione started to back away, so there was nothing for it. Ron and Neville shoved them inside the classroom and slammed the door. Neville locked it while Ron restrained Hermione.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, looking from Ron to Snape, who was smiling rather creepily.

"We're just trying to help, Harry," said Neville. "This is for your own good."

"I haven't had time to adjust it yet," said Snape. "I told you, we ought to wait until tomorrow."

"I had no choice, professor," said Ron. "Kya was talking to me before, and-"

"I'm not interested in your explanation," said Snape. "There's no turning back now anyway. If we memory charm them, she'll know. Is she aware that you are here?"

"No," said Ron. "She thinks we're planning her birthday party."

"Aren't we planning it, then?" said Harry.

"You're a sharp one, aren't you?" Snape said. "Well, the potion will be easier to fine-tune if we have someone to test it on, anyway. Tell them to shut up, and tell Potter to take his glasses off."

"Take off your glasses, Harry," said Ron.

"What?" said Harry.

"Ron," said Hermione. "What is going on? What-"

"That's enough! I told you to be quiet," said Snape. He snapped his fingers, and Harry and Hermione were suddenly both bound tightly. Snape then calmly continued stirring his huge cauldron.

"Hey," said Ron. "Is that really necessary?"

"You don't want them to run away or attack you, do you?" said Snape.

Ron and Neville helped Harry and Hermione into two chairs.

"How can you do this to us?" Hermione immediately asked Ron. _"What is going on?"_

"Don't waste your breath trying to explain it to them, Weasley," said Snape. "They'll never understand, as long as they are under her influence."

Ron looked at his friends, and shrugged, resigned. Much as he hated to admit it, the professor was probably right.

He and Neville sat down on a desk. Now all they could do was wait for Snape to finish the potion. Harry and Hermione gave up struggling against the ropes after awhile, settling for glaring malevolently at Ron and Neville, which made them feel even worse. Well, Ron thought; they would understand soon enough. Or at least he hoped they would.

After a while, he realized something.

"Where is professor Jacobson?" he asked Snape. "Wasn't she supposed to be here?"

Snape glanced at him, and then turned back to his potion.

"She is supposed to be here tomorrow," he said. "That was when we'd agreed to do this, remember? Which is why I am not finished with this potion, so stop asking stupid questions."

Ron raised his eyebrows. Maybe he _had _been a bit stupid to bring them there, after all. He had probably overreacted. Actually, he was surprised that Snape hadn't been more angry with him. Perhaps he simply didn't have energy enough to keep constantly flaring up at him anymore. Not that he would ever admit it to Snape, but Ron was grateful for the reprieve.

They spent half an hour waiting for the potion to be ready and determinedly avoiding each others' eyes. Finally, Snape straightened up and walked over to them. He held a small vial in his hand.

"Alright," he said. "Weasley, I thought I told you to tell Potter to take off his glasses."

"Why?" Harry asked, apprehensively. Snape sighed.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" He snatched Harry's glasses away and put them on the desk. "Be ready with the water, Longbottom. If this doesn't have the right effect, we may want to wash it out." He then turned to Harry with an ominously pleased expression on his face. "This may hurt a bit, Potter. You see this?" he said.

He held up the vial in front of Harry's face. Harry looked up at it.

"Yes, but what are you going to_-AAARGH_!"

Snape had tipped the vial, pouring the contents into Harry's eyes. Harry writhed in agony. There was an unpleasant sizzling noise.

"What are you doing?" Hermione shrieked.

"Is it supposed to work like that?" Ron asked, alarmed.

"Not when a person has been dosed with a muddling potion. We have to assume that Morris's power is stronger than that." Snape replied.

"Is that what this is about?" Hermione asked, incredulously. "Have you all gone mad? Are you seriously-"

"Quiet! Potter," said Snape. "What colour are Morris's eyes?"

"What does that prove anyway?" said Ron. "Harry, what do you think of Kya going out with Malfoy?"

Harry looked dazed.

"Kya who?" he said.

"It's too strong, it's too strong," muttered Snape. "Wash it out quickly, or it'll have a lasting effect."

"You lunatics!" Hermione yelled. "What have you done? You can't mess with his head like that, it could be dangerous-"

"We're testing it on you next," said Snape. "As soon as I have added some more spiders' legs. That should do the trick."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Ron asked him.

Snape did not reply, which was answer enough for Ron. He gazed hopelessly at Hermione, wanting to say how sorry he was about all this, but the look on her face told him he had better keep his mouth shut.

Neville washed the potion away, and Harry soon returned to the seemingly normal state he had been in before, if with slightly reddened eyes. Snape added the spiders' legs, and approached Hermione. She closed her eyes tightly.

"_Alohomora," _said Snape. The spell apparently worked on anything that needed opening, and soon Hermione too was screaming.

"See, that's another reason why we have to keep them tied up," said Snape. "There's less of a chance that they gauge their own eyes out, that way. People have been known to do that to stop the pain. "

"What kind of a sick potion is this?" Neville shouted.

"A necessary one, I'm afraid," said Snape. "It's made to burn some sense into people."

Harry looked at Ron.

"What is wrong with you?" he said.

Ron got up.

"Isn't there any way to make it milder?" he asked desperately.

"That is what I'm doing right now," said Snape. "The effects aren't supposed to be this strong. We want them to remember who Kya is, but forget her influence. Well now, are you ready, Potter?"

* * *

Hours later, four dishevelled looking figures appeared at the door to the hospital wing. It looked as if the capillary veins around the eyes of two of them had burst. The other two seemed close to having nervous breakdowns, and they were apologising profusely to the first two. If Madam Pomfrey was surprised to see them all, it was because this was the first time that they had appeared with a complaint that term. 

"I'll fetch you a salve," she sighed, and left.

"I really feel horrible about this," Ron was saying. "I didn't know it was going to be like that…"

"Well, my head feels very clear now anyway," said Harry.

"Ron, it was hardly your fault," said Hermione. "You did the right thing."

"We should have waited till tomorrow though," said Neville.

"I'm sure it would have been just as bad," said Harry. "I wish we could make Snape take some of it. I bet he got it wrong on purpose."

Madam Pomfrey came back with the salve, and instructed them to apply it every half hour for the rest of the evening. She didn't ask them what had happened, but she took a good long look at them, sighed again and shook her head.

They walked back towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" said Ron, anxiously.

"Not okay with it, no, but we don't blame _you_," said Harry. "It was Snape who made the potion."

"And it was Kya's fault we had to take it," said Hermione. "Anyway, care to tell us what's been going on?"

"We think she hypnotizes people, and Snape says she's working for You-Know-Who," Neville summed it up.

"Oh," said Harry.

"Oh dear," said Hermione. "How did you find that out? What makes you so sure? I haven't noticed anything odd about her."

And so Ron and Neville explained to Harry and Hermione about how they had been behaving unlike themselves, and about Luna's little night time trip into the forest.

"That is scary," Hermione admitted. She hadn't believed them when they had told her about how she had acted shallow and air headed around Kya.

When they found out about Luna's dad, both Harry and Hermione turned very grave.

"Why didn't you tell us about that before?" asked Harry. "Then we might have believed you."

"You still don't understand, do you?" said Ron. "You were _hypnotized._ You wouldn't have believed us."

"I felt perfectly normal, though…"

"She made you read her poetry," Ron reminded him. "If you go to the dormitory now, you'll find a notebook on your bed, with angsty sonnets about wintry mornings and spring rain!"

Neville choked. Harry went pale.

"She made me write poetry?" he managed to croak. Hermione could barely suppress a chuckle.

"No. She wrote it, and you _liked _it," said Ron. "You even asked if you could keep it."

"I can't remember that," said Harry, haplessly. "Honest!"

"That's what I'm telling you," said Ron.

They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, but Ron stopped them before they could say the password.

"Wait," he muttered. "We need a believable explanation for why it looks like you two were in a fistfight."

"Couldn't we do a variation of that birthday story?" Neville whispered. "We were making her a present, and it exploded in our faces."

"Yeah, fine," said Ron. "That'll be believable if she didn't memory charm herself like she said she would."

"Shut up," whispered Harry. "I think she's talking to someone in there."

"I think it's Ginny!" said Hermione.

* * *

**A/N: Think we'll leave you there. We're going on a trip with the family, and will be back on Monday. Have a nice weekend!**


	17. Class Cancelled

**Disclaimer: Yes, J. K. Rowling owns everything. Repressing the urge to say 'yadayadayada'. **

**A/N: **I can't believe how many weird misspellings there were in that last A/N. We were afraid it would be so, since I wrote it one o'clock in the morning. I'd run it through spellcheck, but some of the words became joined together when I uploaded it.

It's fixed now. And yes, we are back a day earlier. That is because I wrote the wrong day in my last A/N. Because I was half-asleep. We're very sorry.

**Akalei**, **Maddie** and **Keemew2**, we're glad you're staying with us and we hope you'll keep reading.** Keemew2, **spellcheck is our god! **Maddie**, a short answer to your question: yes. **Rachel**, we did invite people to flame, it's true. If you ever get this far into the story, which you probably won't, seeing as you hate it, all we can say is that we wholeheartedly agree with you.

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**FFF**

**17.- Class Cancelled**

"Oh, Ginny, I need to ask you something," said Kya. "You see a lot of Ron, don't you?"

"Well, he is my brother," said Ginny. "Why?"

She and Kya had been sitting talking confidentially to one another for a couple of hours, and that didn't happen very often, so Ginny was in a good mood. She knew that the only reason why Kya was paying so much attention to her was because Harry and Hermione were away, and she couldn't find them anywhere. Still, it made Ginny feel better, knowing she was Kya's third choice for companionship. Most people couldn't say as much.

"Oh, I'm getting these vibes from him," Kya sighed. "Bad vibes. It's like he's trying to avoid me. He gives me these looks, and when I look back at him, he avoids my eyes."

She appeared to be genuinely unhappy. She was smiling, but it was in an uncertain way; her huge, beautiful eyes were sparkling with unshed tears and it seemed as if she was trying her best not to wrinkle her brow in despair. She looked trusting and defenceless.

Ginny of course knew exactly what was the matter with Ron, and why he avoided Kya. This presented an interesting dilemma for her. She knew that she had promised Ron not to tell the older girl about their discussion, and yet she felt strangely compelled to reveal everything to Kya. Kya did have the right to know, and Ginny really wanted to be closer friends with her, but still, she had promised.

Ginny let her gaze drift to the crackling fire. She did her best to look thoughtful, as if trying to recall if Ron had ever talked to her about it.

"Well, I don't know if he's said anything," she began, but as she happened to glance back at Kya, she was brought up short.

The expression on Kya's exquisite face had lost all of its tragic softness. Instead a look of feral anticipation adorned her features. She seemed to be hanging on to every word Ginny was saying, silently urging her to continue, waiting for her to make an important slip. That realization hit Ginny hard. She didn't know what to say. Ron's conspiracy theories couldn't be correct, but all was not right; she could see that…

Thankfully, they were then interrupted by none other than the object of their talk.

"Hello girls," Ron said, a bit too cheerfully.

Ginny felt very relieved.

"What happened to you two?" she asked, bringing Kya's attention to Harry and Hermione, who both sported two black eyes.

"Oh, yeah, that," said Harry, looking a bit sheepish. "Potions experiment that went wrong."

"We were making you a birthday present," Hermione explained. "And it blew up in our faces. We don't seem to be able to do anything properly without you, Kya."

"Oh, I was wondering what you were up to," said Kya, beaming. "You remembered my birthday's next week! Oh, I'm so flattered."

* * *

Ron had to keep firm control over himself, to stop from gaping at her. She had really memory charmed herself. She was really that stupid. Well, that could certainly work in their favour. 

Immediately he noticed that Harry and Hermione were staring at Kya. Under the pretence of having to help them apply salve to their eyes, as they couldn't see properly, he muttered,

"_And avoid her eyes, or you'll have to go through this again!"_ under his breath. Harry and Hermione quickly averted their eyes from her. Instead, they turned to Ginny.

"We're going to bed," Hermione told her.

"Yes, to… heal up," said Harry. They went to their dormitories.

* * *

Ron and Neville also decided to retreat, leaving Ginny to fend for herself.

"No, I don't think he has said anything to me about you, except that he thought your dress at the ball was nice," she said.

Kya brightened up.

"Really? He thought my dress was nice?"

Ginny decided to plunge on recklessly.

"Yes, actually, I remember now; he's been watching you a lot. I think he said to me once, that he wished he were in Ma - Draco's shoes."

Kya didn't notice the hesitation. She was too delighted with what she was hearing.

"Oh yes," said Ginny. "He adores your hair. And your eyes."

Kya was loving what Ginny was saying. Of course she was, thought Ginny - who wouldn't love to hear such a thing? And Kya seemed to believe in it all. She must be very innocent. How could Ron think such bad things about such a sweet person?

"Especially your eyes, he thinks they're gorgeous," Ginny couldn't stop herself from adding.

"Yes, they are quite perfect, aren't they?" said Kya dreamily, clearly thinking out loud. She twirled a strand of her hair around her forefinger.

On the other hand, there was a fine line between childlike innocence and narcissism.

Suddenly, Ginny felt a great urge to be alone.

* * *

The next morning, professor McGonagall noted that there were two empty seats at the breakfast table of the staff. Professor Dumbledore hadn't joined them for breakfast during the last couple of weeks. She understood that it must be very stressful for him to try to handle both the school and the Dark Lord at the same time. Still, she was worried about him. It couldn't be healthy for a man of his age and constitution, to seclude himself and immerse himself in work like that. But that was nothing new. 

What was more strange was the absence of Rhona Jacobson. She had turned up for breakfast every morning since she had started teaching, despite the fact that she lived in Hogsmeade and despite her many hangovers. Where could she be? If she was sick, surely she could have sent an owl.

Well, one had to try to excuse Rhona's erratic behaviour, and so far, professor McGonagall had done her best. She had heard all about the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Rhona's husband and sister that summer. Killed by Death Eaters, and in a horribly savage way… it was happening all over again…

But Rhona had five classes to teach today! Professor McGonagall's lips thinned. She would have to reprimand the Defence teacher. Such irresponsibility was unacceptable, really. It was easy to overlook many things with Rhona, but this went too far, McGonagall told herself. Too far. She would tell her off nicely, and let the students know that their Defence lessons would be cancelled, if the professor did not appear at all during the day. She would have to keep an eye out. She'd send an owl, to find out what was wrong, unless Jacobson was just exceptionally late this particular morning. With her, you never knew.

* * *

It really was rather strange, some of the Gryffindors thought, that neither Harry, Hermione, Ron or Neville got particularly upset when they all received detentions from professor Snape that day, simply because Neville had dropped a quill into his potion. 

"Well, I suppose they're used to it," Parvati remarked to Kya, as they left class. "And besides, Snape's in a bad mood. It's not the first time he's been incredibly unfair to them."

The four stayed behind after the lesson, to discuss their "detention."

"Professor Jacobson wasn't here today," said Snape. "I trust you all realize what this means?"

"Do you think anything has happened to her, professor?" asked Hermione.

"I'm quite convinced something has happened to her," said Snape, wearily. "I just don't know what."

"Do you think she's on to us?" said Ron. "Kya, I mean."

"It's possible," said Snape, who had started to pace the classroom. "It's also possible that she saw her pick up Luna that night, and simply wanted revenge."

"What do you think has happened to her?" asked Ron.

"I couldn't say, but we should assume that she's dead."

"She's_ dead?" _said Harry and Hermione at the same time.

Snape looked up at them, irritably.

"No, I'm not saying she's definitely dead, but that we should plan for the worst."

He paced the room some more. The others fell silent. After some time, Hermione said,

"But professor, do you really think Kya would risk it? To kill a professor, just for revenge. I mean, people would notice she was gone…"

"Would they really?" said Snape, frowning at her. "Morris may seem overly confident now, but she has good reason to be. I'd wager, miss Granger, that if she had the hold on you today that she had on you yesterday, she could make all of your close friends disappear without you ever knowing."

Hermione opened her mouth, and closed it again, without uttering a word.

"Professor McGonagall is the only teacher, besides myself, who has realized that professor Jacobson failed to appear today. However, she never sent the owl, like she had planned. By tomorrow, she too will have forgotten that Rhona Jacobson ever worked in this school."

"But our classes," said Harry. "They'll notice if we aren't having any Defence lessons…"

"Will they?" said Snape.

They fell silent again.

"But… professor," said Hermione, after a while. "Kya couldn't have done the same thing to professor Jacobson as she did to Luna, could she?"

Snape stopped pacing and frowned at her, but didn't say anything.

"I mean, professor Jacobson isn't here after hours, is she? She lives in Hogsmeade," said Hermione, seemingly developing the idea as she went along. "Kya visited Luna for ages in the hospital wing, remember? She wouldn't have had the time to put professor Jacobson in that kind of trance. Besides, professor Jacobson has never been really affected by her, has she?"

"There are other ways to commit murder, Granger," said Snape. "Remember that Morris didn't personally attempt to kill Mr Lovegood. Either way, we have to move fast now," he added, resuming his pacing. "We have to draw her out, and expose her to the whole school. We need to make them see what she is and what she is capable of doing."

"How?" said Ron.

"You tell me," Snape snapped. "You know her."

"Well, _I _don't really know her. I never talk to her," said Ron. "She thinks I'm beneath her. I'm a sidekick, remember?"

"She's really full of herself, isn't she," said Neville, unexpectedly stepping in. "Maybe we should insult her. You know, try and make her go so mad, she'll do something stupid?"

"That would have to be a pretty serious insult," said Ron, doubtfully.

"It's not such a bad idea though," said Hermione. "She might get really angry. As long as we can do it in front of the entire school."

"Like during Quidditch?" Harry suggested. "The last match this term is in a week."

"If we did it at the end of the match," said Snape, thoughtfully, "she might be tired enough to make a mistake."

"But what could we say?" said Ron. "What have we got on her?"

"Is there anything she really cares about, that we could make fun of?" said Neville. "What did she like to talk about with you?"

He looked imploringly at Harry and Hermione.

"Well, she talked to me about poetry apparently, although I swear I can't remember any of it," said Harry.

"Her own poetry," said Neville. "That's great!"

"And she kept going on about fashion, and makeup, and hair," said Hermione. "I think she really cares about her appearance."

"I think she cares about herself the most," said Harry. "Remember how she reacted when we told her about her birthday party? If she actually did memory charm herself, just so that it would be a surprise…"

Snape finally came to a complete stop. His stare should by rights have burnt holes through Harry's scull.

"She did what?"

"She memory charmed herself," said Hermione, "so that the birthday party we supposedly planned yesterday would be a surprise."

"We think she went through with it too," said Ron.

"Is she that arrogant?" said Snape, apparently fascinated by such a weakness in an enemy. "Well, then we'll strike out at her self esteem, at the end of the Quidditch match. You will easily think of something that will make her lose her head completely, I suspect. I'll leave that to you. Weasley, I suggest that you be the one to deliver the insult."

Ron was surprised.

"Why me?" he demanded. The consequences of insulting Kya could not be pleasant.

"It has to be someone on the team, if it's going to be at the end of the match," said Hermione.

"And I think we should keep Potter's and Granger's involvement in this a secret, for as long as we can," said Snape. "Since they are so close to her, she is not suspicious of them, and if our plan doesn't work smoothly we might still be able to use the element of surprise."

"The element of surprise? How?" said Ron, exasperated. "What good will it be if we don't know how to use it? Besides, this whole insult thing seems like a rather thin plan, if you ask me."

"Do you have a better idea?" Hermione asked him.

He didn't, and they all knew it.

"That's settled, then," said Snape. "I think we have discussed your detentions long enough. I'll see you here at six o'clock."

"What?" they exclaimed.

"You need to learn to be more careful, Longbottom," said Snape, smirking. "If there had been a little more ink on that quill, the potion would have combusted instantaneously, and I think that five hundred blown up cauldrons are quite enough. You three should have learnt by now, that Longbottom needs to be watched closely so that that kind of thing does not happen."

He smiled nastily at them, before he delivered their sentence.

"By nine o'clock, I expect this classroom to be impeccably clean – floor, walls, ceiling and desks. By muggle means. Good afternoon."

* * *


	18. Poking the Dragon in the Eye

**Disclaimer: **We aren't making any money from J. K. Rowling's work or William Goldman's.

**IMPORTANT A/N: **This is to those who read that we would be back with updates on Monday, and believed us. We made a mistake there. We actually came back yesterday, and updated. We did this so that we can be finished with the story on Friday, because then we will go on a longer trip and won't be back until after the 16nth. So, read chapter 17 first.

Yeah, we're nearing the end. In this chapter, we had some fun with long words, and there are a lot of POV shifts. Anyway, enjoy.

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**FFF**

**18. – Poking the Dragon in the Eye**

"I can't believe she made me read this," said Harry. They were in their dormitory. Harry was leafing through Kya's book of nature-related verse.

"Aha," said Ron. "So you admit it. You read them."

"It all comes back to me now," said Harry, in despair. "Discussing the deep meaning of starlings perched in a beech tree… she really must have brainwashed me."

"Let me see," said Hermione. She took the book, and read a passage out loud:

"_The birch leaf drifts in the summer breeze_

_An aerial dance of colour and form _

_If it could but reflect the depth of my heart_

_I might find myself in this pre-summer morn_

_Oh woe is me_

_For I cannot run_

_And I cannot see_

_What I have become!"_

Hermione read it with such false sincerity that it had them all in stitches.

"'Oh woe is me'? Is she serious?" Hermione gasped.

"I hope not," said Neville.

"Well, she'd better be, or else it won't be much use insulting her about it," said Ron. He got up and stretched.

"By the way," he said, "I don't understand why we can't just use that antidote on everyone, instead of trying to provoke her like this. Do you really think she'll lose it enough for people to realize what she's up to?"

"Well, imagine how long time it would take for us to use the potion on everyone," said Hermione. "Half the school would be back under her control by the time we'd finished."

"Besides, we can't prove that she's a spy," said Harry. "We only have Snape's and your word for what happened with Luna. Who do you think they'll believe? Especially If we pour that stuff into their faces."

Harry and Hermione were still red around the eyes, almost a week after Snape had forcedly cured them.

"I suppose so," said Ron. "But I still think we're underestimating her a bit. Do you really believe she'll go insane and attack me in front of the entire school? I mean, I'll do it, but it would be nice to know we had a backup plan."

"Well, I'm sorry, we can't help you there," said Hermione. "But we'll make sure she doesn't kill you."

"Or that the crowd doesn't kill me when they hear me insult Kya," said Ron.

"I wonder why Dumbledore isn't doing anything," said Harry.

"Maybe he is, only he isn't telling us?" Neville suggested.

"And not telling Snape either?" said Ron. "I can't imagine Kya could control him, though…"

"Have you seen him at all lately?" Hermione asked.

They were quiet for a while, thinking.

* * *

Saturday afternoon had arrived, and the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was about to start. Everybody was excited about the game, and no-one noticed the unusual tenseness in three of the team members. 

The first of the three was understandably anxious, for he was about to commit an act of selfless sacrifice that, if it went wrong, practically amounted to suicide. The second was quite distraught, as he would have to watch his best friend commit said act of selfless sacrifice that, if it went wrong, practically amounted to suicide. He was also plagued by the knowledge that, should the worst come to the worst, the only thing he could do for his friend was to throw himself onto the pyre alongside him. As for the third, she had not a clue what was about to happen to her brother and (she hoped) her paramour-to-be. Her present state of inner turmoil must instead be attributed to the intense feeling of foreboding that haunted her mind, for absolutely no reason at all.

The two teams stood assembled on the pitch, on this blustery and overcast late-autumn day. Ginny's hands trembled with the cold, as she gripped the handle of her broom while waiting for the sound of Madame Hooch's whistle, that would signal the start of the game. The whistle was sounded, and all the players kicked off from the ground. As she soared skywards, Ginny felt the wind sharply lash at her face, whipping her hair out behind her and tugging at her robes. She closed her eyes for a second, simply enjoying the incomparable sensation of being airborne.

However, her cares and worries were not swept away on the wind, as they usually were when the elation of flying filled her. She couldn't get the niggling thought out of her head;

_what if Ron is right? _

She glanced at Kya, who was streaking elegantly across the pitch, Quaffle in hand. Her hair fluttered like a banner in her wake, and her smile lit up the entire pitch. All eyes were fixed on her.

And why shouldn't they be? Ginny asked herself. Kya was unusually striking as she flew there, dressed in scarlet, radiating her particular radiance. It was perfectly natural that even the Slytherin team seemed riveted by her. Perfectly natural.

* * *

Honestly, what was _wrong_ with everybody? 

An hour into the match, and people were still staring intently at the stunning scarlet streak that was Kya.

The game so far might as well have been fixed. Ginny had managed to score fifteen times in one hour. Kya had scored twenty three. Their team had gained a disturbing amount of points during such a short period.

Actually, Ginny thought, an hour was long enough. Why hadn't Harry caught the Snitch yet? Often, it could take ages for a Seeker to catch it, but with Harry that generally wasn't the case, and Ginny was impatient for the match to end. The game was getting rather pointless.

* * *

Three hours into the game. The tenth time she had narrowly dodged a Bludger. Where were those Beaters? 

Ginny had been hovering by the Slytherin goalposts for the past fifteen minutes, putting the Quaffle through the hoop again and again. No-one cared.

And there was Kya, her red robes fluttering about her form, hugging it in all the right places, even while she was doing loop-the-loops over the stands. The crowd cheered and threw confetti at her. Recently, Malfoy had joined in the ballet, spinning alongside his girlfriend, although never achieving her graceful arcs.

Ginny looked at them in disgust. What a joke!

What was Harry doing?

"Harry?" she called. "The snitch! Where is it?"

"If I knew where it was, I would have caught it!" Harry shouted back.

"Well, find it then!" Ginny roared. "I'm bored out of my scull!"

"As… you… wish…" Harry answered, and he went into a steep dive.

Moments later, after a three and a half hour game, Harry had caught the snitch.

* * *

"I've caught the Snitch!" Harry shouted to the crowd in the stands. "Hey! I've got the Snitch! The game's over!" 

The crowd cheered and threw more glittery confetti, but he knew it wasn't for him.

The rest of the Quidditch players finally landed. The Slytherins looked dazed and confused, as if they had no idea of what had just happened. Harry couldn't blame them. He had been there.

Gryffindor had won spectacularly, with two thousand and ten points to zero. Much of this was thanks to Ginny, who had been the only one with enough presence of mind to realize that the Slytherin goalposts had been undefended for a large part of the match. Kya had scored a lot at the beginning of the game, but she had tired of it pretty quickly and had started to perform aerial acrobatics for the audience's amusement instead.

It had been Harry's job to keep from catching the Snitch for as long as possible, so that Kya would be sufficiently tired when the match finally ended. He prayed that she was, because he could now see Ron walking towards her, poetry book in hand.

* * *

Ron hurried towards the part of the pitch, where the rest of his euphoric team members had gathered. 

"Kya!" he called out, in the most pleasant voice he could muster under the circumstances. "Kya, I – I found this – this book! These are your poems, right?"

When she heard him utter the word "poems", Kya finally turned around to face him.

"I mean, you did write them, right?" said Ron. He hoped he didn't sound as nervous as he was.

Kya glanced at the book in his hand. Then, giving him a treacle-soaked smile, replied,

"Why yes, I did! Do you like them?" she added, clearly expecting him to answer affirmatively.

Well, thought Ron, at least there was no danger of anyone _not_ seeing this. The whole school was focusing on them with a disturbing intensity.

"Erm… So you're admitting you actually wrote these, then?"

Kya looked perplexed. That hadn't sounded like a positive response.

"Er… '_Midnight at Frosty Lake'_," he said, since she hadn't answered. "You wrote that?"

"Yes," said Kya, quite unsettled. She had no idea where this was going.

"Seriously, is this what you think up when you're alone at night?"

"Yes," said Kya, obviously fazed. "What's your point?"

"Just this," said Ron. He cleared his throat, and, in his best sarcastic voice, started to read it out loud;

"_As midnight softly approacheth_

_I smile when I'm all alone_

_I sit by the frozen waters_

_And hear the wind's sorrowful moan_

_But were thou with me, dearest_

_My heart would smile as well_

_My expression is now but the mask _

_That hides a hollow shell"_

The crowd around them gasped. Then they fell silent, awaiting Kya's reaction.

"Honestly, _'approacheth'?_ Pretty cheesy, if you ask me," said Ron, bravely. "But then again, that goes with the rest of you. And what about this mask you're talking about? Got any secrets?"

Kya didn't say anything at first, but it was evident that she was seething with anger. That led Ron to believe that their plan had worked, and that she was about to do something really crazy, which would reveal her true nature to the entire school.

Then she spoke.

"Oh Ron," she whispered. "You have no idea of what you just did."

* * *


	19. Snape Tap Dances

**Disclaimer: **Do I have to put this at the beginning of every chapter? I don't have to, do I?

**A/N: **Thank you for your reviews **Akalei** and **Maddie**!

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**FFF**

**19. – Snape Tap-dances**

From what Hermione could see, everything was going well. Kya had gone from disbelieving to upset, and appeared to be progressing towards very very angry.

Hermione was sitting as close to the pitch as she could, in order to be nearby if things should get out of hand. That also meant that she could see what was happening. From what she could tell, Ron was doing great, for someone who wasn't at all experienced with taunting people. Of course, he was very good at hurting people's feelings – particularly hers - so perhaps that was why he seemed so natural now.

She frowned. Where had that come from? Ron hadn't hurt her feelings in a very long time. In fact, it was evident that he had been careful not to, lately. She smiled inwardly. Perhaps she was being too hard on him. Perhaps she shouldn't bully him too much about timetable-related things.

Kya's reaction was very interesting to watch. When she was angry, she seemed human, Hermione thought. Well, almost.

You had to hand it to her though, Hermione mused; she was really good at keeping her temper in check. Hermione could clearly see that Kya was just itching to turn Ron inside out with her bare hands, but she was restraining herself remarkably well.

Hermione bit her fingernails. What if it wouldn't work? Kya wasn't exploding like they had hoped she would… of course, Ron was only just finishing the poem, and he had hardly started insulting her appearance. He had some nice quips planned, especially concerning her hair.

"… _And what about this mask you're talking about? Got any secrets?"_

Wow. A reaction.

Then it hit her. What was really making Kya offended was not the mockery of her poems, but the fact that Ron wasn't on her side. Well, she thought; that certainly didn't make things any easier.

Why was everybody standing up?

Hermione hastily stood up as well, so as to not stand out as the only person in the stands who was sitting down. She looked around, surreptitiously, at her fellow students, all of which were staring at the two figures on the pitch.

She began to feel anxious. This was not going the way it was supposed to.

All of a sudden, Kya turned her head and looked right at her. As if on cue, every single person in the stands mimicked the gesture, all of them turning their heads at the exact same time. Hermione held her breath.

"Mi," Kya called. "Come here!"

* * *

Ron was feeling confused, and not a little bit frightened. Something was wrong. 

Well, obviously, something was wrong. But why had she called for Hermione? What did she have to do with it?

"Oh, Harry, dear," Kya said, over her shoulder. "You too!"

Ron had an icy feeling in his stomach. This is not good, he thought. This won't end well.

Kya turned back to Ron, beaming.

"Did you see how they all got up, when I told them to?" she said. "I have absolute power over them. All of them. Look," she added.

She tossed her hair, flashing him a glimmering smile as she did so, and everyone in the audience – including the teachers – did a hair-tossing motion and smiled at Ron.

Kya jumped. There was a resounding thump that shook the stands, as all the students, and the teachers, jumped on the spot.

She did an expert little tap-dance. Suddenly, all of Hogwarts had the ability to do the same.

She did ballet pose, standing on the tips of the toes of her left foot, while her right leg arched up behind her. Her arms curved above her head.

Luckily she wasn't looking at Snape, for although he did make an effort, he simply couldn't imitate her by a long shot, and the look he gave Ron was murderous.

Ron understood the hint. Snape wanted him to get on with it, but what could he do?

Kya resumed her normal stance, pulling her robes back into place.

"So, as you see, your little attempt to expose me couldn't have worked in a hundred years," she said. "I can even make your friends do what ever I tell them to. Harry, stand on one foot. Mimi, wouldn't green hair look fetching with your chocolate-coloured eyes?"

Harry stood on one foot and Hermione coloured her hair bottle green with her wand, in order to maintain the appearance that they were on Kya's side. After all, they would still have the element of surprise to resort to.

The gaping holes in their plan were becoming glaringly obvious to Ron. Although, when he thought about it, he had been aware of them all along, hadn't he? He had been the only one who had suggested that a few insults wouldn't really provoke her that much, and that her hold on the school was too strong anyway. _He _had wanted a backup plan.

In fact, he had been right about things all term so far. Which must mean that the days of the apocalypse were nigh.

Ron roughly pulled himself back to the present.

Harry was still standing on one leg, looking very strained. The now green-haired Hermione had reached them, and was waiting, standing close to Kya.

"Now, since you're on to me, I must obviously do away with you," said Kya, a look of false concern on her face. "We can't have you here spreading discontent with your tainted aura now, can we? And what could be more fun," she said, her violet eyes glowing, "than having you killed by your very best friends?"

Ron's mouth fell open, although not for the reason Kya thought it did. After all, he didn't have to fear death at Harry or Hermione's hands, but their plan was rapidly falling apart in front of his eyes. What was going to happen, when Kya found out that her two trusted seconds in command were no longer her assistants?

"Well, I thought I made myself clear," said Kya, impatiently. She looked over at Harry. "Oh, bother. Harry, you can put your foot down. Come closer… that's it."

Harry came over and stood next to Hermione. He glanced uneasily at Ron, and Ron knew that they were all worrying about the same thing.

Meanwhile, Kya was getting excited.

"Alright," she said. "Harry, Mermy, on my count, I want you to wave your wand, like this, and say _Avada Kedavra!_ You think you can do that? Alright. One… two… three!"

Nothing happened. Harry and Hermione had not moved.

Kya looked flustered.

"Herms," she said, "Why aren't you-"

"Shut up!" shouted Hermione suddenly. "My name is not Herms! Or Mi, or Mimi, or Mya, or 'Mione, or _Mermy,_ or Miss H, or Hermioknockers. It's Hermione! Her-my-oh-nee! Is that so difficult for you to say?"

"And if you think we're going to kill him, we're sorry, but no," said Harry.

For whatever purpose it might serve, at least the element of surprise seemed to have worked. Kya was, for once in her life, truly speechless.

"What do you mean?" she cried, as soon as she had found her voice. "I control your thoughts!"

"Well, you obviously don't control them any more," said Ron.

Unfortunately, Kya got a grip of herself very quickly. The trio were outnumbered by three to several hundred people in the stands, and Kya had another ace up her sleeve. One that she was sure would not fail her in such an unexpected way.

"You know, Ronald," she said. "One thing you need to learn is that it is good to make friends in many different places. I think I know somebody who, regardless of my power over him, will have no objection to killing you. Draco!"

Draco Malfoy stepped away from the Slytherin Quidditch team and walked over to them.

"Disarm them," said Kya. It happened very quickly. Before they had had time to draw them, Harry, Ron and Hermione had lost their wands.

"Good," said Kya. "Now, I want you to-" but then she stopped.

The reason soon became apparent. People were stirring in the stands. First the Hufflepuffs started to fidget, shake their heads and look around. Then the Ravenclaws seemed to wake up a little, rubbing their eyes and muttering amongst themselves. It would only be matter of time before the Gryffindors and the Slytherins, the two houses that Kya had affected the most, would start to raise their voices and demand to know what was going on.

Harry, Ron and Hermione realized what was happening. Their plan was working at last. Kya's influence over the crowd was slipping. Perhaps it had been too much for her, to keep her power over so many people at the same time.

Kya frowned.

"I was afraid this might happen. Come along then," she said, gesturing to them. "We'll finish this someplace private."

And so, ushered along by her and Malfoy, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were forced to leave the pitch.

* * *


	20. An Unexpected Way

**Another long A/N: **Well, our new summary seems to have done the trick. Yesterday the number of hits for our story rose from about sixty to more than a thousand! A few new people have reviewed as well. Here are our responses.

**Akalei, Maddie, sara sinks** and **Rrogjenks,** thank you for the compliments. It'll all go straight to our heads you know.

However, the ego-bruising **BuckNC** is here to rescue us. Thanks for the criticism. It makes us think. We have looked over the last chapter and we see that you have a point. There seemed to have been a bit of a logical gap there, so we have tweaked it a bit. Anyway, remember why Ron was afraid of going through with their superfluous plan in the first place? The point of it was to get Kya to attack Ron, but Kya never drew her wand. If Ron had stunned Kya, the crowd would have lynched him, or at least that is what he thought, judging from how she could get them to obey her every command.

You are very protective of Ron, aren't you? - :) We think that Ron had his priorities firmly set in this case. He has more important things to worry about. He thinks Kya has changed Hermione's entire personality, and that she is making her act like she does. He is her friend, so he sees the little changes in her more plainly, and as Ginny said, he exaggerates them. Hence why he is being more forgiving of her right now. Besides, it hasn't struck him that Hermione might have danced with others. He wasn't there, remember? However, none of us actually know how Ron would really react in this scenario. Something like this hasn't happened in the books so far, so this is only our theory.

**Rrogjenks**, by now you'll know what we think of exchange students who drop in randomly and seize the spotlight. Our next story won't contain any of those.

Thank you** randomreviewer**! We really appreciate your detailed review. Remember that though you may not have a pressing need to say something, the writers have a pressing need to hear it. We love to get reviews for our story, even if they only consist of one sentence, because they show us that people have read it.

* * *

**FFF**

**20 – An Unexpected Way **

Ginny blinked groggily.

What had happened? She remembered getting a congratulatory hug from Kya, and then nothing…

She drew in a deep lungful of fresh air, and as her head cleared, her memories began to come back. She looked around the pitch, but Kya, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy were nowhere in sight.

The students in the stands had started to talk to each other, but when Ginny tried to get through to her team-mates, they just stared straight ahead, not blinking.

Still clutching her broom, she ran over to the stands and asked some of the students if anyone had seen where Kya and the others had gone. Most of them had only just awoken from the spell, and no-one could tell her anything.

Getting a bit desperate, Ginny finally decided to fly as high up as she could, to see if she could spot them. They couldn't have gotten that far, she thought.

She soared upwards. As it happened, she didn't have to soar very high before she could see them. They were heading towards the forest.

She hesitated for a moment. She wanted to help them, but she didn't have her wand with her. She had left it in her dormitory, so as not to drop it during the game.

Well, it would only take a moment to fly back and get it, she thought.

She swung her broom around, and was racing towards the castle when she caught sight of Neville, who was running across the lawn. Farther ahead, she could see Snape going in the same direction, his cloak billowing in the wind. She wondered what they could be up to.

* * *

Neville got the fright of his life, when the red blur without warning swooped down right in front of him. 

"Neville," she said. "Where are you going?"

"Ginny," said Neville. "I… um… don't know?"

"Can you help me then? I saw Harry and Ron and Hermione getting herded into the forest by Kya and everyone's acting like they've lost it. Do you know what's going on?"

To her surprise, Neville did in fact know.

He hastily explained to her about Snape and the potion and what their secret plan had been. Ginny was astounded, but she believed him. She had seen enough.

Snape had already disappeared through the double doors of the castle.

"I have to go," said Neville, and he started walking at a quick pace.

"Wait," said Ginny, and she flew up in front of him again. "What are you up to?"

"Will you stop doing that?"

"What?" said Ginny, puzzled.

"Flying up in front of me like that. You're going to give me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry. But please, tell me."

"Snape's going to get the potion," Neville explained, impatiently. "He doesn't want me along, but I have to do something. I thought I could bring some of it, and help the people who haven't come around yet."

"But Harry and Ron and Hermione are in trouble _now!"_

"Well, I don't know what I can do! I forgot to bring my wand, and I'm useless without it – it'd only make things worse."

"Well, we have to find someone who can help. I was going to get my wand, but I don't know what I could do, if Kya's holding them hostage or something. Dumbledore! We have to get Dumbledore!"

"I think that's what Snape's planning to do," said Neville. "But we'll never find them in the forest anyway, unless we could get the Quidditch teams to search it."

"So wake the Quidditch teams," said Ginny.

"We need the potion for that," said Neville. "Which was what I was going to get, but now I'll never catch up with Snape."

"Hop aboard," said Ginny.

* * *

If Neville had been surprised by the red blur swooping down upon him, It was nothing to what Snape was when he saw them streaking through the passages of his dungeon. Flying was not allowed inside the school, he thought indignantly, when he had recovered. _Fifty points from Gryffindor! _he muttered to himself, and that made him feel better. 

By the time he arrived at his office, they had been waiting for him for five minutes. Without saying a word, he unlocked the door and let them inside.

* * *

Kya and Draco Malfoy had taken Harry, Ron and Hermione to a clearing in the Forbidden Forest. Ron was all nerves by the time they arrived. He didn't like the forest, for a very good reason. 

"Why are you doing this, Kya?" Hermione asked.

"Do you really expect me to tell you?" said Kya.

"Well, why not?" said Harry. "If you're going to kill us anyway, you might as well tell us why."

"What's it to you? You're going to die!"

"You don't know the answer, do you?" said Ron.

"Of course I know, you nitwit!" Kya snapped. "It's because I'm following orders!"

"Who's orders?"

"My mentor's, of course."

"Who, Clavisto?" said Harry.

"Who?" said Kya. "Oh, him. Haha! That's just a name I got off the top of my head. Idiots. Who do you think it is? You _know _who!"

"We know…?"

"No, _You-Know-Who!_ Voldemort. My master."

"Oh."

"You're not a proper Veela, are you?" said Ron. "They don't do that thing with their eyes, do they?"

"Figure that one out, did you?" said Kya, in a bored tone of voice. "No, I'm not a normal Veela, but if you want any more details about that, you'll have to ask the Dark Lord. As far as I know, I'm just a freak of nature."

"Okay," said Ron. "Um… not to offend you, but are you insane?"

"Well, yes, but now you're just stalling. I want to get it over with, so, if any of you _twits_ have any more questions, ask them now, before I have Drakie here kill you off."

"That's another thing," Hermione said, quickly. "Why do you want Malfoy to kill us? Why don't you just do it yourself?"

"Discretion. My master is big on discretion," Kya replied. "I'll have Darling Draco here do you in, and then there's no blood on my hands, see? Then he wanders around, with no memory of what he has been doing in the last hour or so, and when they find him with your bodies, and they check his wand, they'll know he did it. Everyone knows he's a Death Eater- in-training anyway, so…"

"But can't you just make it look like we've never been here, like you did with professor Jacobson?" Ron asked.

"Ah, no, there are complications with that," said Kya, casting a regretful glance at Malfoy. "Jacobson had no family left, and had no close friends in the school. There are a few people at the Hog's Head who'll miss her, but otherwise it was easy to erase her existence. But you have families and friends outside of Hogwarts, and Harry… well, I can't erase history, you know. But enough talking! Draco!"

"Wait! Please!" shouted Ron. "Malfoy's in love with you! Would you really do that to him?"

"Yes! Kill them!" Kya cried, dancing around in little circles in her ecstasy. "Kill them!"

Malfoy turned towards them. His eyes were wide and blank, and his lips formed into a half smile.

He raised his wand, he pointed it at Harry, and-

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

* * *

"Draco," said Kya. "Again…" 

"_AVADA KEDAVRA!" _he shouted. There wasn't even the faintest sign of a green spark coming out of his wand.

The trio let out the breath they had been holding. Malfoy wasn't able to perform the curse.

Kya stared at him. Something flashed in her eyes. When she spoke, her voice quivered with anger.

"Pathetic!" she screeched. "That's what you are! You pathetic, worthless little creep! Hermione was right about you. You said you didn't want to be a Death Eater? You couldn't be a Death Eater to save your life! The only reason you don't want to become one is because you're scared your dad will find out what an incompetent, weak, snivelling, cowardly cretin you are! You'd be too scared to lift a finger to save your own mother! You couldn't even save Pansy!"

Malfoy's expression was one of mounting horror, as he listened to her tirade. When she mentioned Pansy, he seemed to freeze for a moment.

"You didn't even notice she was gone, did you?" Kya continued. "She was the first one to go, two weeks before the ball, so that I could have you all to myself. I didn't want anything to distract you from me. And all along, you were just a pretentious bully. And I thought you were important. The tragic anti-hero! Strong willed enough to defy your own father, and even Voldemort! Of course, I'd have made you go along with him anyway, but still, I thought you had character-"

"_Avada Kedavra!" _

There was a flash of green light. And silence.

Kya looked at them with her big, unusually exquisite eyes, for one second. Then she collapsed.

To the last, she was a very beautiful corpse.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at the body for a moment, and then they all turned to Malfoy. He kept his wand pointed at the still form, a look of complete hatred on his face.

"Malfoy?" said Harry.

Slowly Malfoy seemed to come back to himself.

He took a few steps away from Kya.

"Look, Malfoy," Ron began, carefully. Then he realized he didn't know what to say.

The body lay between them.

"Don't talk to me," Malfoy said, shakily. "And don't-"

What else they were not to do, Harry, Ron and Hermione never found out. At that moment, they heard a noise, that Ron and Harry knew all too well. Scuttling and clicking.

* * *


	21. Feeding the Spiders

**A/N: **Thank you for the reviews! Again!

**Fairymargarita,** **Chickens-of-Doom** (whose username we love) **j-star**, **greeneyes,** **ohjuotaku**, **Akalei, Maddie,** **R.K.R** and **BuckNC**, we really appreciate it.

**Chickens-of-Doom**, we didn't know what genres to put it under. It isn't a complete parody, but it isn't wholly serious either. See Hermione's many nicknames.

**R.K.R**, we know, she pretty much carries the almost non-existent plot. We just wanted to try this kind of story out. We hope you keep reading anyway.

**BuckNC **– we were only joking! We really do appreciate your reviews. Like we said, they make us think. As for Neville, maybe it's an effect of his having to work with Snape… We never perceived him as a cold and distant person, but we suppose that he does give away that impression here. He doesn't get much screen time, and there aren't many scenes where he is in a good mood, so he seems to come off as cold. We acknowledge it, and we're sorry about it. Won't happen again!

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**FFF**

**21. – Feeding the Spiders**

Snape stormed up the stairs to the headmaster's office.

"Things are unravelling," he muttered to himself.

Not only had that moronic Weasley completely bungled the entire confrontation; he hadn't even had the sense to stall long enough for Snape to be able to make his way onto the pitch and rescue them. By the time he'd managed to force his way down from the stands, through hordes of confused and angry students, Kya had led her hostages into the forest, away from sight.

Obviously, his best bet was to find the Headmaster and make him aware of the dangerous turn of events.

Which he would have been aware of earlier, had he even once stepped out of his office.

The one time Snape had been to visit him before, the Headmaster had seemed stressed and tired. He had told him to keep a lookout, and said he had had too much work to do at present. Snape had informed him about Luna Lovegood and his suspicions regarding Kya Morris. Dumbledore had seemed troubled by the news, and had told him to keep looking into the matter as discreetly as possible. He couldn't remember much about what the rest of the conversation had been about, but as he'd closed the door, he had felt convinced there was no need to bother the headmaster again. That had been two weeks ago.

Then he had not suspected things would turn this ugly. In retrospect, he had no idea of how he could have not suspected it, but now he was determined to drag Dumbledore out of his self-imposed exile.

However, when he tried to open the door, he encountered a problem. It was stuck.

And why did the doorknob feel so oily?

Snape tugged at it again, but without putting much effort into it. He ran a hand through his hair, making it even greasier, as it was the hand he had tugged at the doorknob with.

He glowered at the door, and tried it again, pulling the knob carefully. Then he turned his heel and began to walk away from it.

Suddenly he stopped. What was he doing? Why was he walking away from the door when he needed to get in?

It wasn't so much that he couldn't open the door, he thought. It was more that a strange reluctance to do so overcame him when he tried, causing him to not try very hard. His experience with mind-affecting potions had taught him to recognise the signs.

He ran a hand through his hair again, and bent down to examine the doorknob more closely.

"Yes," he whispered softly. There was something smeared on it. Something with a faintly purplish tinge.

He sniffed. It smelled of kerosene…

He knew exactly what this was. It happened to be quite a favourite with his former colleagues, although rare and hard to come by. So subtle, except for its scent, but kerosene was common enough. If you didn't immediately have reason to connect the smell with that potion, you could have no way of detecting it before it affected you and messed with your mind. The person who was trapped in the room would be breathing in the poisoned air, and feel unwilling to leave the room in which he was imprisoned. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

Because it had affected him as well, he realized.

That was not a pleasant thought, so he chose not to dwell on it for very long. Instead, he reached into the pocket of his robes, and pulled out a small glass bottle, which he only used under very special circumstances. Covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve, so as not to inhale anything, he threw the bottle at the door. The bottle shattered, spraying a poisonous green powder all over the door, which immediately disintegrated.

He cautiously stepped over the pile of dust that had been the door, and into the office.

"Headmaster?" he said.

* * *

"You want to be careful with that," said Neville. "Just use a small amount of it. Thankfully it's only the Quidditch teams we have to use it on." 

"Why?" Ginny asked, nervously. "What does it do?"

"Remember Harry and Hermione?" said Neville, while unscrewing the cork of his vial containing the potion. "It wasn't Kya's birthday present that had done that to their faces."

Ginny went pale. She held her vial as far away from her own face as was possible, as if it could explode at any moment. Then she approached the statue-like Katie Bell.

Soon, screams of pain reverberated across the grounds.

* * *

In the forest, things were indeed unravelling very quickly. 

The Acromantulas that had been attracted by the shouting and the burst of green light, now had Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco Malfoy surrounded.

They stood in a tight cluster beside Kya's body, from which they had retrieved their wands. The spiders were advancing. At first, Harry tried to plead parley.

"Please let us talk to Aragog," he begged. "We know him! We're friends of Hagrid's!"

Ron stared at Harry incredulously. After all, Aragog had hardly helped them the last time they'd met. Then he caught on.

"Yeah, that's right," he said, quickly. "You wouldn't hurt friends of Hagrid's, would you?"

The thing they needed to do was to buy time, so that Hermione could think up a plan.

"My father has friends in high places-" Malfoy began, in his normal high-pitched voice which made Harry, Hermione and Ron start because they hadn't heard it in ages. But then he stopped, seeming to reconsider.

"If you eat us, Dumbledore will be angry, and he won't let you live in the forest anymore," Ron said, lamely.

It was no use. The spiders were getting closer every second. At first they had all stopped in their tracks, apparently surprised at Harry's and Ron's attempt at diplomacy, but now they were drawing nearer again, clicking their mandibles madly. They did not seem to be of the bargaining persuasion.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy all looked around frantically for something – anything – which might delay their impending doom. At once they all had the same idea.

Kya lay there, on the ground, her hair fanned out around her head, white as new fallen snow. She looked slightly astonished, her amethyst eyes wide and uncomprehending. The sun broke through the clouds and shone over her, as she lay there, finally at rest. Never in Hogwarts' long history had there ever been such a poetic image of death.

They lifted up the body and threw it at the spiders.

"Take her first! She's fresh!" shouted Hermione, earning stares from everybody.

All spiders forgot about them and crowded around the corpse, but before devouring it they stopped for a moment, almost as if in a mark of respect for one who had been so like them in character. Then the grisly feast began.

The group quickly turned away from the sight, and started to run through the forest, in what they hoped was the right direction. However, they knew that the spiders were most likely going to finish off Kya quickly, and were just as quickly going to catch up with them.

"Any ideas yet?" Ron yelled to Hermione.

"Keep running!" Hermione yelled back.

Soon afterwards, she decided to ignore her own advice and stopped. A look of confusion clouded her face. The others stumbled to a halt as well. They could hear that the spiders were gaining on them.

"Hermione, what-" Ron said, and then he saw what she had already spotted.

In the air above them, weaving through the treetops, were small figures on broomsticks. They stood out in stark contrast to the grey sky, because they were dressed in scarlet and bright green robes. The beleaguered ones could not have been more happy to see their fellow team members! (Hermione was happy to see them too, of course).

Could it be that they were going to be saved?

Or were they to suffer death at the mandibles of their arachnid pursuers after all?

The outcome was soon to be decided. Right then, a number of preposterously large spiders dropped out of the trees around them. Click, click went the mandibles.

The trio and Malfoy drew uncomfortably close together, as they were once more surrounded. Now there's nothing for it, Ron thought.

"_Impedimenta!" _he shouted. A spider froze stiff, but it was only for a few seconds.

The others followed suit and hurled as many spells and hexes at the monsters, as they could. However, the Acromantulas were very powerful creatures, and such spells couldn't hinder them for long.

The Quidditch teams were drawing nearer, but there seemed to be a lot of branches and foliage in their way. Ron turned around and looked for them, to see if they were making any progress already, only to find himself facing a lot of shiny black eyes and too many hairy legs.

And he panicked.

"Aim for the eyes!" Harry shouted. Ron tried, but as he was hanging at a rather precarious angle, it was not the easiest thing to do. The spider had gripped his leg and was carrying him away from the others. Hermione was being dragged up a tree, and Malfoy was running away in a random direction in order to avoid such a fate. He couldn't keep it up for very long, and soon one spider had him by the legs, and another one had hold of his arms. Harry was nowhere in sight.

So this is they way we go, said Ron to himself. And to think, I never saw it coming. If I'm going to be gruesomely killed, I hope I pass out first. Not very dignified perhaps, but a lot less painful. And who cares about dignity at a time like this? Where are the others? Are they dead already? I hope _they _pass out first. Maybe not Malfoy, but the others… I can't hear their voices. Perhaps they have already died.

Ron paused in his inner monologue, as something occurred to him. Why wasn't he dead yet? And why had his monstrous abductor stopped in its tracks?

Come on, he thought. Don't drag this out.

All of a sudden there was a flash of blinding white light, and he and the spider were flung high up in the air. The spider released him from its clutches, but instead of falling heavily to the ground, Ron felt strong hands pull him onto a broomstick.

"You okay?" he heard a familiar voice ask him.

At last, he opened his eyes. There was Ginny, unruly red hair whipping about her freckled face. She was smiling at him.

"Yes, I'm fine," said Ron, smiling back at the person who had just become his favourite sibling at that moment. A thought struck him.

"Are the others alright?" he asked, and looked around, trying to spot them with the other Quidditch players.

"Ron, stop it, or you'll fall off," said Ginny. "They're already ahead of us. Look!"

When Ron looked in the direction she was pointing he saw several figures, flying in the direction of the castle. They were anonymous to him in the distance, but he could see a black-robed person sitting behind one of the Gryffindor players. The person hadn't yet removed the charm she had used to dye her hair green.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, this one was very strange. And now, only one more chapter to go!**


	22. The Last Chapter

**A/N: Chickens-of-Doom, **you guess correctly. Unless it turns out that Draco has just been really misunderstood. (Not bloody likely)

**Akalei – **thanks for all your reviews :) This'll be the last chapter, for this story. We will probably write other things. Hope you'll update your story soon.

**Maddie – **You were right! That's good. - :)

**Fairymargarita – **Thank you! We'll try.

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**FFF**

**22. – The Last Chapter**

When they neared the edge of the wood, Ron and Ginny could see the others landing and forming a small group. Ginny started to fly lower. Finally, they also landed gently, safe on the ground. Ron hobbled towards Harry and Hermione, and Neville, who had apparently gone along with the rescue team.

"Are you alright?" he asked them, urgently. They looked at him, amazed.

"Are _we_ alright? We thought you'd been eaten," said Hermione.

"Why?" said Ron.

"Well, they couldn't find you," Harry explained. "The spider dragged you off."

Ron tried to reply, but his mouth was full of Hermione's hair. She wouldn't let go of him. This is not a normal friendship hug, thought Ron. He didn't mind it, though.

Harry turned away, only to come face to face with Ginny.

"Nice save," he said. She grinned.

None of them noticed Draco Malfoy slipping silently away.

The sky was darkening, Ron realized later. Perhaps it was going to rain. It didn't bother him. He was sitting on the grass with Harry, Hermione, Neville and Ginny, enjoying the feeling of not being dead. None of them felt the need to talk very much.

They watched as Dumbledore and professor Snape came strolling out of the forest, Snape looking very sombre.

* * *

Snape was speaking to Dumbledore. The headmaster didn't seem to be able to keep his face entirely straight, but for what reason, Snape had no idea. He wasn't about to ask about it either. He had important things to discuss, and had no time for trifles. 

"We haven't been able to find her," said Snape. "And I doubt we will."

Dumbledore's expression instantly turned very serious.

"I assume you are referring to Miss Morris," he said. "And the others?"

"Pansy Parkinson and professor Jacobson have disappeared," said Snape. "But as to Miss Morris' whereabouts, you might want to question _them_." He pointed at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "By the way, would you care to explain how exactly you suspended the Acromantulas in mid air?" he added. "They are notoriously spell proof creatures after all…"

"Elementary, my dear professor," said Dumbledore, and the familiar twinkle was back in his eyes.

* * *

Here it comes, thought Ron. He glanced at the others. They exchanged significant looks, all in silent agreement. They would not expose Malfoy as the one who had killed Kya. 

Dumbledore was approaching them. They got to their feet, and attempted to look as tired, worn out and unfit for interrogation as was possible.

He didn't question them for very long, anyway. All he managed to get them to say was that Kya had been eaten by the spiders. Whether or not he knew what had actually happened to her, they weren't sure. Something in his expression told them he had an idea of it, though.

He went over to Snape and said a few quiet words to him. The two professors started to walk back towards the castle. Soon everyone else followed. It had been a very trying day.

"Why does Snape's hair have purple streaks in it?" Harry asked Ron.

"I don't know," said Ron. "And I'm not about to ask him."

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A month later, things were about as close to normal as could be expected, under the circumstances. Christmas was coming up, and the great hall was decorated accordingly. However, it wasn't nearly as full of holiday spirit as it usually was at that time of the year, since no-one could enter it without thinking about the two empty seats. Rhona Jacobson had been found in a ditch outside of Hogsmeade, very much dead. It had looked as if she had turned her wand on herself. There had even been a suicide note, explaining all about her tragic life and alcoholism. Pansy Parkinson's body had never been recovered, but she was presumed to have died as well. Her parents, who were both in Azkaban, had not inquired into the matter, but the case was still being investigated by a flustered magical law enforcement squad. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione were trying their best not to think about the events of the last month. They had all bought presents for one another, and had so much schoolwork to do in the last week before the holiday, that they had no difficulty keeping their minds occupied. Besides, as they all continually reminded themselves in the bitter watches of the night, it could have been worse. Kya could have triumphed. She hadn't, and that was a good thing. They ruthlessly suppressed that little voice inside of them that said; _but still…_

One winter morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny were having roasted chestnuts in front of the common room fireplace. Outside, the air was thick with snowflakes. No sane person would want to be out there. Luna Lovegood was skiing across the lake however, and seemed to be enjoying it immensely. She had recovered. 

"Ron, would you pass the pumpkin juice?" Hermione asked.

Ron passed the pumpkin juice and smiled at her. She smiled back. Harry turned to Ginny and rolled his eyes. She rolled her eyes as well. Ron and Hermione exchanged knowing glances. Harry and Ginny shook their heads in bemusement at their friends' behaviour. Neville grinned at them all.

Then they started laughing.

* * *

Meanwhile, someone else was making his way through the snowy grounds. While Luna enjoyed the weather, Draco Malfoy had gained an uncanny ability to completely ignore it, in spite of the powerful wind. He had been able to ignore a lot of things lately. Like the famous trio, for example. He had ignored them for an entire month. They were in his debt, and he knew that ought to make him happy. One day he was sure he would relish calling in the favour, but right then he didn't care. 

Perhaps the violent storm would give him pneumonia and he would die from it. Of course, he was too cowardly to kill himself on purpose. And he wasn't sure he wanted to die. All he knew was that he didn't want to go home, to the future that was planned out for him.

Not that he cared about Potter or Dumbledore, or any of those who opposed the Dark Lord. He still hated them. The problem was, he now hated the Dark Lord as well. Kya had used him like a puppet on the Dark Lord's orders, and had killed Pansy on a whim.

Hadn't they thought he was going to join the dark side out of his own free will? Because he had been ready to, despite whatever he had said to Kya when under her influence. He couldn't remember the discussions he had had with her, but he recalled the gist of them. She had made him say all those things, about not wanting to join the dark side. What had been the point with that, if she had been working for Voldemort anyway?

He now felt a powerful antipathy for the lot of them. Dark and light, both. Although he was sure his parents hadn't known about the Dark Lord's plan – because then at least his mother would have warned him about it – he couldn't go back home after what had happened. His parents were both loyal to the Dark Lord. They would force him to join the Death Eaters, if Voldemort wanted him to. He wasn't about to comply with that.

And neither could he join Dumbledore. What Dumbledore stood for went against all he had been brought up to, and still did believe in.

That meant that he couldn't seek his protection if he decided to run for it, or go into hiding. Which was why he had been considering suicide.

But some part of him knew he wouldn't be able to kill himself. He might not lift a finger to save his own mother, but did have a strong sense of self preservation. Perhaps he could go abroad next summer. Just pack up his stuff and fly off on his broomstick.

And not finish Hogwarts?

Malfoy frowned. Then he smoothed his expression quickly, realizing that it could cause wrinkles.

Well, he reasoned, finally. His parents probably wouldn't press for him to join the Death-Eaters until after he had finished his seventh year. He might be able to stay at the manor for the summer, and complete his last year after all. He did like his parents, in spite of what Kya had made him say, and he wouldn't leave them without a proper farewell.

After his seventh year, he would fly away to some far off country. Perhaps he could become a famous Quidditch player.

No, he couldn't, because then he would be in the public eye. He had to lie low.

There were other things he could do. He had other talents besides Quidditch, after all. He just had to discover what they were.

Satisfied that he had a well thought out plan, Malfoy walked back towards the castle. Perhaps he could befriend Blaise Zabini, who was his only intellectual equal, and the one boy in the whole of Slytherin house who wasn't a sadistic bastard. At least according to popular opinion. If that was true, then he might be an interesting person to hang out with.

What he really needed was a friend, who could keep him from screwing up the way he had been doing so far. He might be vain and self-absorbed, but he had realized that.

The memory of shaking hands with Potter after the Halloween ball popped up in his mind. It filled him with revulsion. No. They were not friends, nor would they ever be – not in a hundred lifetimes.

The End.

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**A/N: If you liked it, tell your friends. If you hated it, tell your enemies. Goodbye.**

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**A/N after book six (CONTAINS SPOILERS): **

The name Kya means Diamond in the sky. We thought it would suit her. Also, this fic is entirely off the mark where canon is concerned, as we've realized after reading HBP. Apparently, Snape wouldn't have bothered saving them.

Or would he? We have no idea of his real intentions, actually. He didn't seem to care about Dumbledore, but is he completely loyal to Voldemort?

Almost all of this fic was wrong, but one thing wasn't. In the book, Malfoy was in fact ordered by the Dark Lord to kill someone but he wasn't able to do it. But whether we got anything right or not doesn't matter really, because this fic wasn't meant to be taken seriously. We hope everyone who read it realized that.

Have a nice summer!


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